Vacations: Reloaded
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to The Death Club. Summer vacation finally came after the stressful "Death Club Incident" but it turns out several parties are taking profit of everyone's favorite heroes' absence out of the country to stir up some ruckuses in Japan. But not everything is as simple as it'd seem at a first look: a conspiracy is being drawn behind the scenes and will have repercussions...
1. Chapter 1: Setting off

**Vacations: Reloaded**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Setting off**

20:18 PM (Japan Time), Friday July the 22nd, 2011…

"… Man! What nerves! We go overseas for the third time already and we'll be staying in the same place as the last year! It'll be cool!"

"Sure thing, Netto – kun. And especially with our two friends coming along as well… I guess Enzan will take the chance to beat some berserk Navis and say he's been productive."

"Heh, heh! Enzan will always be Enzan."

"Have you checked that you have everything, you two?"

"Yeah, Mama!"

"Come on, Haruka… They're 14 years old. You can't keep on treating them like they were 10 years old…"

"I know, Yuuichirou – san, but it never hurts to double-check."

"True, true."

Netto and Saito were sitting on the sofa of their house's living room while looking like they were about to leave in a trip because they carried their backpacks and a wheeled suitcase.

Netto sported his typical orange sleeveless vest over a white shirt plus his black with yellow stripes shorts plus his orange sneakers.

Saito had a blue sleeveless vest and jeans plus white sneakers.

"So! To Barcelona we go, Saito – niisan!"

"Yeah. We've really deserved these vacations after all the effort we've gone through this 1st grade at middle school." Saito grinned.

"By the way, your friend should be about to come, right?"

"Yeah… Any time now…"

DING DONG!

"Ah! That must be him. I'll go." Haruka smiled.

She walked over to the entrance door and checked the peephole before unlocking.

"Good morning, Hiro – kun! Come in."

"T-thanks. Sorry for the delay."

"Don't mind it."

"Yo! Akashi Hiro! Welcome to the club!"

"Excited, Hiro?"

Akashi Hiro was slightly over a meter and fifty tall: his hair's color was jet black and it was totally messy (similar to Netto's) while his eyes' irises were blue.

He sported a reddish sleeveless vest over a black shirt and jeans plus black sneakers.

He also carried a Link PET the emblem of which was the lowercase _delta_ character painted silver and set against a black background: the PET's colors were red and white.

He also carried his backpack plus a black wheeled suitcase.

"Obviously! This is gonna be my first overseas trip, ya know!" He admitted with a broad smile.

"I hope you'll behave, Hiro – kun."

"Who knows, Delta?"

"You do."

"Maybe Watson does?"

"Huff."

Delta, Hiro's Net Navi, projected out of the Link PET using the hologram:

His face looked strikingly similar to Rock Man's although he had some slight differences regarding the eyes' irises (which were blue) and the shape of his cheek bones.

The central part of his helmet had a murkier silver color to it plus two rectangles and one band cutting across it starting at the back: some jet black hair came out from behind the helmet as well.

His main body color was jet black while his forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.

His emblem was the same _delta_ character set on his chest and ear-pads.

Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.

"I doubt it."

"Maybe ya need to take up courses from Naked Snake regarding how to show off body~?" Hiro teased.

"No." He drily replied.

"Heh, heh, heh. That dryness amuses me, ya see…"

"So what!" Delta protested.

"Now, now… Hiro – kun. Don't quarrel with your friend just as you're about to go off into a vacation." Yuuichirou told him.

"We weren't quarreling, hakase… It's how we are to begin with!" Hiro shrugged.

"Yeah. So behave yourself."

"O. K.! Then I'll dance the monkey dance."

"Huh? What monkey dance?" Delta frowned.

"Come on, Hiro… Don't pick on Delta." Saito sighed.

"Let them be, Saito – niisan: it's amusing to look on." Netto grinned.

"I disagree." Saito muttered.

"Anyway! Did you make sure to lock the house properly and that you have all vital stuff like passport, wallet and keys?" Delta asked.

"Sure thing." Hiro replied as he rummaged into his pockets.

"Good. Denpa – san will come to pick us up soon enough."

"With an IAV Stryker?" Hiro joked.

"No." He quickly replied.

"Hiro… Behave already." Saito sighed.

"No, let them be!" Netto grinned.

"That won't do. We don't need these outbursts." Yuuichirou scolded.

"Ah… Sorry." Hiro apologized.

"See?" Delta rolled his eyes.

"Lesson learned, alright." He muttered.

"Our flight leaves at 10:30 PM so Denpa – san must be about to come to take us to the airport. We have to go through check-in and the security controls, after all…" Saito muttered.

DING DONG!

"Aha! Speaking of the gentleman… Here he is. I'll go." Haruka giggled at her own description.

She headed for the door and checked the visitor before unlocking it and greeting the person.

"Good evening, ma'am. I apologize for the delay: I had to attend an urgent call regarding a little something… But everything is ready. We can depart immediately." A man politely greeted.

"My. You sound like a late Shouwa period gentleman."

"I-is that so?"

"Now, now… Haruka… Denpa – san is not from the Shouwa period."

"I knew, dear. I was testing him."

"Welcome, Mr. Denpa!" Hiro greeted.

The man named Mr. Denpa appealed as being on his 20s: he looked about a meter and eighty tall.

He had brown short and combed hair while he was clean shaven: he had reading glasses on and his eyes' irises were colored brown.

He currently wore a white shirt with thin navy blue stripes and thick black stripes, bluish jeans, white socks and black sneakers: he also sported a black USB device hanging from his neck using a red cloth string.

"Well! Gentlemen. Is everything ready?"

"Roger!"

"Sir, Ma'am… With your permission… We shall be departing for the airport…" He bowed.

"Go ahead." Yuuichirou smiled.

"Enjoy!"

"Thanks, Papa, Mama!"

"Bye!"

"Have a nice time." Delta politely told them.

The three tens came out of the house and spotted a black Honda FRV model car parked in the lawn.

A man on his 30s wearing a black suit, hat and sunglasses and having jet black hair under the hat was standing next to the opened trunk.

He loaded the suitcases and backpacks into the trunk and closed it before climbing into the driver's seat: the teens waved goodbye as they climbed into the car.

"Bye-bye~!"

22:10 PM (Japan Time)…

"… These are our seats! I go at the leftmost one. Netto – kun, Saito – kun and Hiro – kun go in that order. You may interchange them if you wish, to, though."

"No, that's fine for us."

"Yup. And don't try to sneak on me, Hiro. I have light sleep and can hear a mouse sneaking by."

"Guess so…"

"Make sure to place tabs on him, Saito – kun."

Mr. Denpa and the teens reached their row of central seats and sat down on them in the order he listed: Saito warned Hiro with a smile and he scratched the back of his head: Delta looked amused.

"Sure thing. Beware of Creeping Man."

"Creeping Man?"

"He may drop down from the overhead cargo compartment for all we know!" Saito giggled.

"Yeah, yeah… Totally." Hiro looked skeptical.

They sat down after having stored the backpacks into the overhead cargo compartment while Mr. Denpa took out a thick book with red hard covers which he placed on his lap as he adjusted the seat-belt: Saito signaled to Hiro how to adjust it and he looked out through the right window at the illuminated nocturnal landscape of the airport's grounds.

"Wow. My heart is beating so fast…!" Hiro muttered.

"The excitement which comes with a take-off…" Mr. Denpa chuckled as he began to read the book.

"What book is that?" Netto asked.

"_Sherlock Holmes: the complete stories_… I got it on the Sherlock Holmes museum in London when I went there back on March."

"Whoa. All of Holmes' stories…" Netto whistled in surprise.

"Eh… Can we ask what the call you mentioned was about?" Saito timidly asked him.

"Huh? Oh. Eh… Nothing to be concerned, really! I was checking on a little something regarding Germany but nothing extraordinary had happed insofar…" He admitted.

"Ah. We thought something had happened."

"No, no… As I said: nothing to be worried about."

"Maybe you discovered a Fulton STARS dropped somewhere?" Hiro suggested with a grin.

"What? A Fulton Surface-To-Air-Recovery-System, you say? No, no! Nothing of that kind…" Mr. Denpa laughed.

"What's that?" Netto and Saito asked.

"Basically a harness plus a helium balloon which is then picked up by an aircraft having a special hook attached to it… It was designed on the 50s and it's still used… Useful to retrieve ground personnel…"

"Oh. You ripped that off some game, Hiro?" Netto asked.

"_Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker_, ya see~!"

"Ah. So that's why." Mr. Denpa chuckled.

"Attention, please. We will be taking off in about 8 minutes. Make your way to your seats and be ready for take-off." The speakers announced.

"Heh, heh, heh. Next stop: Paris Orly! And from there… Barcelona! Excited, gentlemen?" Mr. Denpa told them.

"YEAH!" The four of them chorused.

"Once we're in the air then we can say that the vacation has started: store up your energies and you'll be able to unleash them when we get there, gentlemen! I've prepared a pretty intense program of visits and activities, I must admit." He chuckled.

"Attention: please disconnect all cell phones and switch off wireless capabilities of any PET model. We are about to close the door and begin taxiing."

Hiro quickly accessed his Link PET's menu and picked "Wireless = off" to then replace it on his arm-strap.

"What nerves!" He muttered.

There was a small jolt and the aircraft began to be pulled away from the "finger" and oriented towards the direction of the track: the plane began taxiing at a slow but steady rate while Hiro and Delta looked on through the window.

"The prelude to the adventure…!" Delta gasped.

"Ya could patent that." Hiro laughed.

"I don't see the point on that, really."

The plane then entered the track and stopped: the hum from the engines increased and Hiro instinctively gripped both armrests while looking totally nervous: Delta had assumed a "sitting" position over his right shoulder and looked excited as well.

"_And… Let's go~_!" Mr. Denpa exclaimed.

The plane jolted and began to run up the track at a maddening speed accompanied by a deafening roar: before Hiro could notice it, the plane began to climb up and the landscape began to shrink: Hiro gasped and looked on along with Delta.

"W-we took off!" They both gasped.

"Welcome to the sky!" Mr. Denpa announced.

The plane stabilized and Hiro began to smile in relief along with Delta: he let go of the armrests and looked around.

"It's now official, gentlemen! The vacation has begun!"

"YEAH!"

07:05 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday July the 23rd…

"… Hmmm… _Tortilla_…"

"Tortilla Man has descended!"

"Wha! When! Where! Huh! W-where are we?"

"Time to wake up, Hiro – chan!"

"Oi, Saito! That wasn't funny!"

"Wanna miss the final approach or what?"

"The final approach…?"

"You'll see it about 5 minutes!"

Hiro had been snoring when Saito pulled a joke on him to wake him up: Mr. Denpa, he and Delta were awake while Netto was mumbling something and stirring: Saito giggled and leant closer to him.

"Hiro wants to go in a date with ya~! Netto – kun!"

"W-what! Oi, Hiro! What are ya thinking, that I'm a…? Huh? Saito – niisan…! The glitch came back, didn't the thing?"

"Yessir. The Glitch of Doom!"

"G-glitch of Doom?" Hiro and Delta asked.

"Yeah. Some weird glitch somewhere in his mind makes him turn into a prankster who loves teasing people. I guess I'm to blame for that but not even Papa can predict when it shows up." Netto whispered.

"I'd say the atmospheric changes are to blame~!"

"Sure, sure." Netto skeptically replied.

"Reversal of roles, Netto – kun!"

"I knew that. Man. It looks like we were looking at our opposites or our magnetic pole had shifted."

"Maybe Magnet Man is pulling the strings?"

"Magnet Man? Oh. I remember the guy! He was making the plane we were going behave crazily to steal some program or another but we defeated him and the plane landed safely. And we had to figure out how to trap a poisonous spider along the way… Did Gauss Magnets arrange for that, too?" Netto recalled.

"The spider…? Ah. He did confess it was his idea of a distraction while Magnet Man intruded the computers."

"And Obihiro – kun was onboard that plane yet he didn't speak to anyone while working with a notebook PC…" Saito added.

"So that was your first overseas trip?" Hiro asked.

"Yeah. The return trip, to be exacts… The departing trip was pretty much trouble-free…" Netto shrugged.

"Gentlemen! The final approach!"

"W-whoa~!"

The four teens looked out through the window as the plane maneuvered above the Mediterranean Sea to allow for a magnificent sighting of the Barcelona skyline: the sun was illuminating a great deal of it thus glorifying the sight.

"So this is Barcelona…!" Hiro muttered.

"Look, look! That building over there… The _Sagrada Família_! Am I right?"

"Good eye! And we will be visiting it one of these days. Now that the main _nave_ has been completed the interior has become something spectacular which you HAVE to see." Mr. Denpa smiled.

The plane began to descend and oriented itself to face the track: Hiro and Delta looked excited again and he was gripped the arm-rests again: the ground came closer and closer with every passing second with details becoming clearer.

"Another little bit…!"

"What hysteria…!"

The plane touched down and immediately a deafening roar rang out: it reversed the engines and began to speed down to eventually begin taxiing across the ground.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Barcelona."

A general round of applause rang out inside of the plane and Hiro subconsciously joined it before he and Delta realized why they were applauding to begin with.

"We're here! Barcelona! We're here, Delta!"

"Yeah! We finally reached it, Hiro – kun!"

"Agent On Air will pick us up. We'll then go to villa to get installed. Today we're still tired after such a long trip."

"It sure was long! We landed at Paris around 3:40 AM and this plane took off at 5:50 AM!" Hiro exclaimed.

"And when you see the villa… You'll be captivated." Saito teased.

"Yeah! It's nothing like anything you might've seen before."

"Man! Quit the teasing!" Hiro laughed.

"That'd be spoiling the fun!" Delta grinned.

"Guess so… Anyway… I'm ready for anything!"

"I think you'll be ready for a cool dive into the villa's swimming pool _via_ our "attraction"…" Mr. Denpa teased.

"Attraction…? Whoa! This is starting to sound cooler!"

"And it's only the _tip of the iceberg_!" Mr. Denpa further teased.

"By all the… Stop with the "Tease Hiro all day long club" already!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's going on." Delta laughed.

"Vacations: start!" The four of them exclaimed.

They laughed in a jovial tone…


	2. Chapter 2: Villa

**Chapter 2: Villa**

08:15 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday July the 23rd…

"… There he is! Oi! On Air! Over here!"

"Mr. Denpa, sir. All is ready, sir."

"Good! Let's go!"

"Roger!"

The group of four (excluding Delta given how he "physically" wasn't there) came out into the arrivals lobby and walked out:

They spotted a man on his 30s who sported similar clothing to the man who had driven them to the airport in Japan.

He had brownish hair under his hat.

He was holding a cardboard piece with the names "Mr. Denpa & co." written on it.

"Might I help you with some of the luggage?" On Air asked.

"No, thank you."

"Lead the way, On Air." Mr. Denpa commanded.

"Roger, sir."

The group walked down the vast room while Hiro and Delta looked at the whole room as if studying it: they turned right and walked down a corridor before exiting into an adjacent parking building: On Air paid the fare through the machine and they then headed down the left aisle of the parking floor until they reached a crimson Nissan Quashqay car parked there: the teens whistled in surprise.

"Whoa! You got a new car, Mr. Denpa?" Netto asked while circling around it on excitement.

"True. What do you think of it?"

"Cool." Hiro whistled.

"Let's load the luggage: it's a 30 – minute drive from here to the villa. You'll see plenty of landscape." Mr. Denpa instructed as he unlocked the trunk.

The teens loaded the luggage and then sat down inside of the car as On Air turned it on and they exited the building: they quickly picked an expressway and abandoned the airport area: Hiro and Delta looked at the shifting landscape.

"It looks… How should I say it…?" Hiro began commenting.

"Industrial, maybe?" Delta suggested.

"Ah! True, true."

"No wonder. The airport is outside of Barcelona to begin with and this area is not part of the city." Mr. Denpa shrugged.

"So… Where's the villa at?" Hiro asked.

"A village named Vallirana… It lies about 25 kilometers from the Barcelona periphery… It only takes about 30 minutes to get into the periphery from the villa…" Mr. Denpa explained.

"Is the villa modern?"

"Modern? I wouldn't say so. It was inaugurated in the year 1964."

"Whoa! 1964! Then… Who was the previous owner?"

"My grandfather. I don't own it: my father does. Yet we only live there during the summer because it's more refreshing compared to staying in Barcelona the whole summer… And it was one of the very first houses to be built on that street which today is plagued with several of them… It's undergone several reforms over the times but the main architecture hasn't been altered." Mr. Denpa explained.

"Wow. So… Your grandfather bought it?"

"No, no. He had it be built."

"Whoa! Cool! I feel excited. This is about to turn better, I guess!"

08:49 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… And here we are! Netto – kun and Saito – kun obviously remember it pretty well but for you and Delta it's a new location! Have a good look at it if you may!"

"Whoa!"

"Cool."

The Nissan had stopped and the passengers had climbed down to look at the house standing next to them: there was an outer perimeter wall covered with vegetation thus hiding its composition and giving it a more "natural" feeling.

What was visible of the house was west side of second floor plus the west side of the first floor: the second floor was built as wooden triangle with two chimney exits built atop it plus a set of three windows placed near the south end of it.

The first floor wall had a window with apparently rotation-capable glass panels and it was colored white.

Attached to the south end of the house was a concrete platform with a large movable metal door allowing access from the street.

The entrance door was set slightly past the main body of the house and it consisted on one piece of blackish metal having a central body with spiral-shell-like branches emerging from it: given how it wasn't completely solid, there were holes which allowed one to look through it and into the perimeter garden: two cubical lights with metal frame and white glasses were set atop the main door.

"Wow… This door looks… Dunno… Custom?" Hiro gasped.

"Heh, heh! It's hard to find things like these nowadays!" Netto patted the back of his right shoulder.

"I know that this door wasn't the original one and was changed at some moment yet I still haven't found any pictures of it amongst those picturing the construction… I think it's from the 70s…"

Mr. Denpa produced a set of keys and used one to unlock the door: Hiro and Delta ran into the small platform atop a set of stairs and looked around in awe.

"By all the… This is incredible!"

"Totally!" Delta exclaimed.

The north end of the house was the main façade: two sets of balcony doors could be seen on the 2nd floor, a balcony with a door and a retractable shutter were built on both the 1st floor and the ground floor: the left side of the house had a set of colored glass pieces forming a column and allowing light inside of the house.

A small terrace was built right in front of the house: it had a round grayish plastic table and some white plastic chairs set around it: two white metallic rails for a currently folded awning were built to extend from the leftmost side of the house until past some of the stairs steps.

The view at the left and behind was also broad: a swimming pool in the shape of a whale was built in a lower level of the garden some meters in front of the house: the area around the pool had brownish square tiles plus a small hut.

A small plaza was built directly in front and at a lower height of the main terrace: the west side of it had a large tree which climbed up and the branches of it extended as far as the top of the stairs where the group was currently standing at: the center of the plaza had a plastic hut colored brown, having a green roof and a red fake chimney.

"Heh! That looks like a good place to play hide-and-seek." Hiro grinned and looked up to something already.

"Oh. Come on." Delta rolled his eyes.

"It's too obvious!" Netto laughed.

"Yeah. I always found ya hiding there last year." Saito grinned.

"That dialect sounds weird coming from you, Saito – niisan… Can't you talk normally?" Netto rolled his eyes, too.

"Heh, heh, heh. Keep on."

They descended the set of stairs and placed the suitcases to the left of the entrance door: they then walked across a small corridor parallel to the west side of the house to end into a small rectangular yard in front of a set of windows and a curtain made of plastic strings.

"My, my! Graffiti Man dropped by here." Hiro commented as if he was reviewing something.

"Come on…" Delta muttered.

The wall opposite that of the house had a large yellow star with a "face" painted on the middle of it plus a drawing of a tree at its right: the SW corner had a chimney built into it and was directly underneath the platform at street level: an oval-shaped white plastic table was set there and another awning was folded above it: two lights with metallic structure and orange-like transparent glass were set above it, too.

The corridor continued into a space built underneath the platform which signaled the limit with the adjacent house: a plastic cupboard stood against the west-facing wall.

"First stage: garden tour! Second stage: house tour! Ready? Go! Follow me!" Mr. Denpa rallied.

They stepped into this new area: a metallic stair allowed access to the platform while a set of stone steps descended into a lower yard having a metallic structure with thin strings crossing it from end to end: the opposite wall was covered by foliage as well: the east wall had a small room built into it having a large window a wooden door plus a window made of arranged bricks which looked into another room.

The west side was a delimiter wall made of several bricks which allowed sightings into the adjacent house's yard: the entrance to a room was built underneath the ground level platform and a small staircase running parallel to the west wall allowed exit from this area.

"Lemme guess. Given how the washing machine is inside of the room, then… Ya gotta place the wet clothes here, on the strings, to dry them."

"Correct, Watson." Mr. Denpa joked.

"Heh! I'm the Prince of Deductions!"

"Prince of Deductions…?" Delta seemed to find it silly.

"Well then, Prince! Guess what that room below the ground floor backyard is!" Netto challenged.

"Hmmm… Given the stone deposits, the control valves on the far wall and the piping… The water control room, perhaps?"

"Bingo."

"And let's check that brick window… Hmmm… Water heaters and some kind of heating system?" He deduced next.

"There's one working electrical model water heater: the other is a defunct gas model and so is the old-fashioned gas central heating system. But there originally was a coal-powered boiler, too."

"And you switched for the gas model?" Delta deduced.

"Correct. In fact… I don't know if I told you, but the house is placed to conceal the cover for an underground gas deposit which ended up dry years ago…"

"Oh. So that's what it was." Saito muttered with obvious interest on his face.

"Hey! What are these black hoses running out of the room and this control panel thing?" Hiro asked as he looked at the space at the right of the entrance.

"The automated garden irrigation system…"

"Whoa! Automated garden irrigation system…! How does it work? I guess no Navis handle it, right?"

"No. It doesn't have a Plug-In port either. It works by "zones" which are allotted a 10-minute frame and it turns out at given hours. Yet it includes a humidity sensor…"

"And if the humidity value is too high given a recent rain then the system won't start up to save up water?" Delta deduced.

"Correct, Watson Jr."

"Please…" He groaned.

"Welcome to the club!" Hiro laughed.

"Next!"

They climbed down the stone steps into a corridor running adjacent to the east side of the house: the first thing to be seen was a set of tall black metallic fences surrounding an empty dog-house having some large blue plastic hoses stored inside of it: a natural wall marked the separation with another house built at a lower height than the garden and it ran all across the east side of the whole garden.

"A dog-house, eh? Maybe _Charlie_ is hiding there?" Hiro lifted his eyebrows and formed a broad grin.

"Why "Charlie"?" Delta asked.

"Alpha Team, Bravo Team, Charlie Team, Delta Team…" He listed and trailed off in purpose.

"Hah, hah. How brilliant." Delta drily replied.

"Why isn't there a door to enclose the compound?"

"It rusted and broke so we had to take it out because it didn't make sense anymore."

They walked some steps forward and then looked up and to the right to see the whole east side of the house: three sets of windows could be seen set at the ground floor level: two had retractable shutters set next to them while the first one counting from the left had two open shutters. The first floor had a large balcony with three balcony doors connecting different rooms: the second floor had two separate sets of retractable windows looking out above the perimeter wall and into the village.

"You can see those from street level."

"Eh! Really?"

"Really. If you picked binoculars and looked out then you could tell people apart, too."

"I'll be checking to make sure glutton – kun doesn't always sneak out to buy a liquid-chocolate-filled chocolate _croissant_…" Saito teased.

"Oi, oi…" Netto looked nervous.

"Same thing applies to you, Hiro – kun." Delta warned.

"Hmmm…" Hiro was apparently daydreaming by now.

"Don't worry! I'll treat you to some later on."

"YAY!" The three of them exclaimed.

"… That's nice." Delta sighed.

"Don't worry, Delta! There'll be a day in which they'll make new Copy Roids capable of ingesting food and drink! Papa told us!" Netto whispered to him.

"Whoa. Then I'll be looking forward to it even if it takes another 8 years to happen!" Delta gasped in admiration.

"Might happen sooner than you think, even…" Mr. Denpa trailed off in purpose.

"Really?" Everyone (save Agent On Air who remained silent) gasped in surprise.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'll brief you in later. Let's move on."

They climbed up a set of four steps and ended up on the space directly underneath the ground floor balcony: a wooden wall with a built-in-door was set in front of them: Mr. Denpa took out his set of keys and unlocked the door.

"Welcome to the catacombs." He joked.

"That was original, ya know!" Hiro grinned.

This underground room was a storeroom having a set of shelves set across the center of it, some desks set on the left side and stuff stored at random on the right side: the far wall had cupboards built into it plus a door at the leftmost side allowing access to the room with the water heaters and the defunct central heating system.

"So you can look out into the yard from here… Interesting! And you really have a LOT of stuff here, too!" Hiro whistled in surprise.

"Obviously, gentlemen."

They climbed up two sets of stairs to return to the ground level and they examined the main door: it was a piece made of wood with opaque glass panels set on it plus some iron bars spanning both vertically and horizontally across it: Mr. Denpa unlocked it.

"Hold on. I'll deactivate the alarm."

Hiro and Delta peeked inside fueled by obvious curiosity: the foyer's ground was polished parquetry while the only piece of furniture were a marble desk with a metallic structure to support it, a mirror with a metallic frame over it, and some small wooden shelves at the right side of it.

A set of greenish stone stairs with wooden and black metal handrails began at the left side: part of its wall had been replaced by wooden and had a door allowing access to a small room built underneath it where Mr. Denpa had stepped into.

"O. K.! Step in if you're feeling curious!" He challenged.

Hiro grinned and quickly stepped in followed by the twins and Agent On Air: two closed doors made of opaque glass panels and wooden frame were set on the leftmost side of the east wall while the other chunk of the wall had a built-in radiator: looking upwards one could see the twisting staircase connecting both floors of the house.

"Ground floor: foyer! Next stop: living room! Beware of the living furniture!" He joked.

"Then Psycho Mantis ain't far from here." Hiro joked.

Mr. Denpa opened one of the doors: the group stepped into a large living room having plenty of interesting furniture.

To begin with, two brown leather sofas were set forming the left and upper sides of a square with a small green armchair placed directly behind the door: a chimney with a fireplace was set between the sofa and the armchair.

"A fireplace? Like in the ending of _MGS3: Snake Eater_. Maybe you can toss the bothersome radio equipment there and let it be burnt up when you no longer need it?" Hiro laughed.

"Come on! That's not funny, Hiro – kun!" Delta groaned.

A set of three window panels were set behind the northern sofa to allow light in: the other two windows set on the east wall with a small separation within them and they provided the natural illumination and air for the room.

A bookcase with four cupboards doors and a radiator built inside of it stood behind the second sofa: a radio was placed on the biggest space while its speakers were set on the NW and NE spaces of the whole bookcase: two sets of shelves were set behind and between it plus above the radio: books, DVDs and videotapes occupied the shelves along with a few photographs.

"My, my. You used this lower cavity to install a radiator and ya also placed a radio here… I'll make sure to check it out!" Hiro grinned.

"Sure, sure…" Delta looked skeptical.

A metallic set of five selves stood directly opposite the northern sofa: it had a large LCD TV set on the topmost shelf and other items scattered around the remaining four shelves.

An oak octagonal wooden table was placed behind this set of shelves: some foldable wooden chairs allowed seating around it: a curious lamp consisting of a black triangle with three small light bulbs set inside of a metallic circle and hanging from the ceiling hovered directly above the exact center of the table.

The east wall had a hand-made tapestry piece set on it: a closed door was placed at its right along with a radiator glued to the door's right: the southern wall had a three-piece canvas depicting a fisherman's village somewhere set on it, too.

"My, my! Uncle Bartolometh's village!"

"You never had any uncles, Hiro – kun."

"Come on! Don't be as stiff as Blues: even Ijuuin gets annoyed at his stiff behavior from time to time!"

He opened the door and they stepped into a kitchen room: the left and directly in front walls had a large marble shelf built into it: the left side had the iron stoves plus an integrated electrical oven beneath it: the extractor was set above them as well.

The opposite wall had the dishwasher and a microwave heater built into it plus some drawers and cupboard doors.

A metallic table with a glass surface occupied the center of the kitchen with some black plastic and metallic chairs being set around it: two windows were built atop the two sinks which were directly left of the dishwasher: these windows allowed one to see the yard built on the west side of the house: the exit door was placed towards the right of the microwave heater.

Starting at the right of the door and extending across the south-facing wall were some metallic shelves containing cups, vases, and other stuff.

"Two fridges? Then Fridge Man is close by."

"I know no "Fridge Man" yet there's a Net Navi belonging to a Sharo Nation researcher: Cold Man. I brought him up because he's designed as a miniature walking fridge."

"Too bad! And there I wanted to patent Fridge Man…"

"Yeah, yeah. We know the rest of the tale, Hiro – kun."

"So they say!"

The taller fridge as set directly left of the entrance door while the second one, slightly shorter in height, stood to the right of the exit door: a small corridor originated past the second fridge.

This dead-end corridor had a large wooden piece of furniture with several drawers and cupboards doors occupying the southern wall: a large window was set atop it as well which looked out into the corridor crossing beneath the ground level platform.

The corridor's south-end wall and eastern wall had two rows of glass shelves holding several items, too.

An open wooden door set towards the right of the entrance allowed access into a parquet corridor: this corridor had a room on the left side of it and another at the end of it: the right wall was occupied by a full-body mirror.

"I guess the valets' room is ahead." Hiro guessed out of the blue.

"Huh? Don't say stuff taken out of nowhere at random."

"Let's confirm it!" Hiro rallied.

He stepped inside the room at the end of the corridor: it had a white fan on the center of the ceiling, two balcony doors overseeing the east side corridor, a large black wood shelf occupying the south-facing wall, a black wood drawer set on the opposite wall plus a small round table with a cloth set over it: two cupboards opened on the west-facing wall to the door's right.

"What… Ah… I lose the bet." He muttered.

"What bet?" Delta frowned.

"The bet with Cousin Charleston…" He shrugged.

"Cousin Charleston…! I give up…!"

"That reminds of me of my cousin Charlie… I should get into touch with him again…" Agent On Air suddenly muttered.

"My, my. It'd seem I can influence other people's thoughts!"

"You're imitating Psycho Mantis…" Delta grumbled.

"So the other room has to be the Scary Room!"

"Huh? Who the heck would name a room "Scary Room" to begin with, Hiro – kun?" Delta frowned.

"At least it's better than "Room 101" in Orwell's _1984_ book…" Mr. Denpa muttered with a shrug.

Hiro opened the door and groaned upon discovering it was a bathroom: the toilet was set on the center of it accompanied by two small opaque class and white metallic frame which overlooked the rearmost yard: the right side of the room had a sink plus a mirror and a small cupboard was set at the left of the toilet: a shower was built occupying the west-side wall, too: the whole room was painted white thus giving it a "bright" appearance.

"What… I lost another 100 Zenny!"

"At least this isn't Las Vegas." Mr. Denpa tapped his right shoulder from behind.

"This all there's to see in the ground floor?" Delta asked.

"Sure thing! Next stop: 1st floor! Follow me!"

"And what's the room over there?" Hiro asked as he signaled the room at the end of the corridor.

"Well… We tend to use it to store stuff, too, or to play. But we generally use it to place the ironing board and iron the clothes."

"Ah. I see. Anyway… Let's check out the rest. Wanna bet 50 Zenny that the next room we see will be the Surfing Room, Delta?"

"What in the… I give up." Delta groaned.

"Surrender Man?"

"Please…"

"Come on, Hiro…" Netto told him.

The group undid the earlier path and entered the foyer again: the first flight of stairs had a small ledge adjacent to it and the north-facing wall was where that set of colored glass pieces was set at: the filtered light illuminated the staircase in a curious manner.

"Looks like a disco!" Hiro joked next.

"Be serious." Delta commanded.

"You're starting to sound like a Western." Saito sighed.

"But this is the West, so…" Hiro shrugged.

"I mean like a guy from Ameroupe…" Saito muttered.

"Their humor can be somewhat lame, they say." Netto added.

"Now, now. Let's allow everyone to say what they think. This house is open to interpretations!"

They climbed up three flights of stairs until they stopped in the 1st floor corridor: a small console was set there which had some photos placed atop it: the door leading to the north-facing balcony was placed there and a new corridor facing south spread open to the left of the stairs: its ground was made of parquet, too, and six doors were placed on it.

"Hmmm… The 6 Doors of the 6 Virtues?"

"If you wanna make up an RPG game go ahead but this is the real world: they obviously have a practical use to them."

"1st left is my bet!"

The room turned out to be another bathroom with grayish tiles: the sink was placed facing north along with three mirrors which were the doors of three small cupboards: the toilet was placed directly in front of the door: a shower design similar to the one in the ground floor was set on the south-facing wall: the window with the rotation-capable panes was set above the toilet and allowed sights into the street.

"Man! How many bathrooms are here? This is the 2nd one! What will we find? 8 of them?" He sarcastically muttered.

"Jeez."

"Wanna bet what's 1st right?"

"The Sky-view Room!"

"Close!" Mr. Denpa laughed.

"Che. Alright. No more random bets. Let's see what kind of room is laughing at me." Hiro played the offended.

The room directly in front of the bathroom was a bedroom having a king-sized bed facing the east wall, several cupboard doors occupying the south-facing wall and two balcony doors exiting into the east-facing section: there were three interconnected wooden-framed-windows connecting with the north-facing 1st floor balcony, too: a small sofa was set opposite the bed as well and a fan was built on the ceiling.

"This is your bedroom, Hiro – kun."

"Good! I have good views of the village and the road! I can spot if Ocelot comes up walking the street by the morning!" Hiro laughed.

"Sure, sure. Remember to keep it clean along with that bathroom slotted for you." Delta reminded him.

"Behold."

Mr. Denpa suddenly headed for the farthest cupboard door and opened it: he revealed a very small corridor with a door on the opposite side which he opened as well to step into the other room.

"My, my. The Secret Room is there: why else would ya bother to hide the door like that?"

"It's because the adjacent room used to be a bedroom, I believe, yet this whole floor was rebuilt to keep only 2 of them… There's an entrance by the corridor, too." Mr. Denpa explained.

"Ah… Then it ain't a Secret Room?"

"No. That's the office room…"

They stepped through the hidden entrance into the adjacent room: this new room had a metallic-structure table with a glass surface set on the center of it plus a set of metallic shelves containing many books: a metallic drawer set was placed to the secret door's right while another was set directly opposite this one: two cupboards doors were built on the west-facing wall next to the entrance door: two balcony doors were built on the east-facing wall to allow exit into the balcony overseeing the east-side corridor.

"Hum. Fine. I'll find out the CIA dossier on "The Boss" somewhere around here!" Hiro joked.

"Stop with the _MGS_ references…" Delta sighed.

"Oho. Beware! Big Brother is waiting in the corridor! There, at the end of it…! Be careful!" Mr. Denpa suddenly warned.

"Big Boss?"

"Big _Brother_!" Delta corrected.

Hiro stepped out into the corridor and looked at the far end: a device which had a red LED on was placed above the farthest door and it seemed to be controlling the corridor's length: the LED switched off on its own after a few seconds.

"Ah. An alarm sensor…" He sounded disappointed.

"The _Big Brother_ is observing you…" Mr. Denpa teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Lame. What's next?" He looked bored.

"Be more considerate!" Delta told him.

"2nd left: the Billiards Room!"

"No~…" Delta sounded frustrated by now.

"I'm driving ya insane~!" Hiro grinned.

"Maybe. And don't come up with another silly motto."

"Who knows?"

This room was largely unlit but some sunlit filtered through the closed window looking out into the ground level platform adjacent to the west and south ends of the house: the room had a set of shelves on the south wall with another in the west wall and left of the window: several suits stored inside of funds were set on perches across the west wall: the east-facing wall had two cupboard doors on it as well.

"Let's bet the next room is the Dance Room."

"I think you've been seeing too many _Luigi's Mansion_ videos... That manor was way bigger." Delta sighed.

"Funny. I own the game and have cleared it countless times including the "hard mode"…" Mr. Denpa admitted.

"So? What's this used for?"

"Storage. And the workshop was moved down into the basement: it meant some effort but was worth it."

"5th one: the Dance Room! I bet 25 Zenny to it!"

"Stop betting: you know you're going to be wrong."

The 5th room was another bedroom: it had a fan on the ceiling, too, plus a king-sized bed and the usual cupboards together with the balcony door allowing exit into it.

"Then the next room is the Candle Room!"

"Candle Room?"

"Only candles allowed… To be used in the arcane rites…" Hiro tried to sound sinister.

"Please…"

The final room ended up being a bathroom with bluish tiles: it had a toilet with a small window over it looking out into the metallic stairs linking ground level with the street level platform: the sink was placed towards the left with the set of cupboards and the bathtub: a map of Ameroupe filled the east-facing wall.

"Man. I don't hit the target at all!"

"That's because you're behaving like you were inside of _Luigi's Mansion_!"

"2nd floor! And then I'll brief you into something intriguing."

They finished climbing up the last flights of stairs and stepped into the 2nd floor room through the open room.

"My, my. This is where it turns interesting, Delta – chan."

The room's ground was made of parquet, too, and the ceiling was covered by wood: the triangle-shaped form could be noted here given how the eastern side of the room's ceiling was lower than in the middle.

Two balcony doors oversaw the whole north end of the house and a large wooden desk with plastic supports stood in front of them: two bulky PC screens plus an integrated PC were set atop it while two computer cases were set on the ground.

Another desk was set starting at the eastern edge of the computer-holding desk and it had several books and CDs piled on it.

Two beds had been placed facing opposite directions with a small brown sofa between both of them: two columns for ceiling support extended from the middle of the ceiling and ended on the center portion of the eastern wall: the two retractable windows were built atop the end of the columns.

Standing at the right of the entrance door was a set of wooden shelves containing several books, VHS and stuffed animals.

Two fans hung from the ceiling although one was missing its "arms" and the control device.

The south-facing end of the room had a drawer set plus a large wooden bar which acted as a perch to hang clothes from: a world map was placed on the wall as well: two doors opened at both sides of the wall with a third one placed towards the right of the entrance door.

"Jeez. Stop with the Nickname War."

"Netto – kun and Saito – kun will sleep here!" Mr. Denpa announced as he spread his arms wide as if encompassing the room.

"What's left to be seen?" Delta asked.

"Check it out."

The room annex to this one was a bedroom having a king-sized bed underneath the window, two support columns, an LCD TV mounted on a slightly mobile platform up in the left side of the wall, and a set of shelves expanding the whole of the west-facing wall: the leftmost corner had a door leading to the adjacent room also accessible from the main bedroom: a small gray sofa had been placed on the SE corner.

"I will be sleeping in here and we will share the bathroom."

"Heh! Then I get lucky." Hiro grinned.

"Don't be so fast to claim jackpot, young man…" Mr. Denpa warned with a smile.

Hiro and everyone else (save Agent On Air) frowned at his last comment as if not catching the point of it.

"Over there."

The bathroom's tiles were of a yellowish color and the west-facing wall had two large cupboards with a larger compartment to store clothes and a small one overhead to store shampoos, perfumes and other products.

Two sinks were built on the east-facing wall left of the room linking to the second bedroom along with a large mirror: two small white plastic cupboards were attached to the walls at both left and right of the door leading to the main bedroom.

There was a slightly higher section separated by one step which had the toilet and an enclosed shower: Mr. Denpa opened a door next to the shower to reveal a small room having a square stone water deposit plus the windows looking out into the street.

"And, to finish it up… The Unlit Room!" Hiro grinned.

He dashed out and checked the remaining room: it was an unlit and small storeroom having several shelves and storing VHS, toys and board games: Mr. Denpa stepped in after him and lifted his right hand to adjust a loose light bulb in the ceiling: Hiro groaned.

"Man. And here I thought it didn't have light bulbs."

"Had enough, Hiro – kun?" Delta looked unimpressed.

"Extra: the swimming pool!"

"Whoa! I wanna see it!"

"Don't run down the stairs!"

"O. K., Colonel Campbell."

Hiro went on ahead followed by the twins, Mr. Denpa and Agent On Air closed the row: they came outside the house and climbed down into the corridor connecting the swimming pool area and the basement: a green and yellow tiled fountain with a lion's head was set nearby the pool and Hiro checked it out.

"Lion Man lives here!" He laughed.

"What news." Delta drily told him.

Hiro then looked at the pool: the rim of it was made of white stone with embedded minerals while its walls and ground were a mosaic of little blue tiles: two steel stairs allowed easy entrance and exit.

A skimmer mouth was set on the north-facing edge along with its cover: the south-facing edge had a small white plastic slit as well complemented with a blue and white stripes trampoline.

The opposite end of the area had a set of metallic pipes and valves half-hidden by the grown foliage which climbed all the way to the street level along the concrete walls.

"By all the…! Is that…?"

"Whoa!"

A pink slide was set on the west side of the pool, in a corner, and was set so that the users would end up over the deepest spot of the pool where the bottom suction white plastic cover was set at.

"So that's the "attraction" ya guys meant… I'm gonna set up a new record: I promise!" He challenged.

"Alright! Sorry to drag you along, On Air, but you can leave. I will call you if something pops out." Mr. Denpa told him.

"Roger, sir. Goodbye, gentlemen."

"Goodbye~!"

"Wait for me in the ground floor terrace."

Mr. Denpa escorted Agent On Air to the street and he climbed into the Nissan car to leave: Mr. Denpa walked back into the terrace and signaled for everyone to seat.

"I would like to introduce you to someone." He announced.

"Huh? But there's no one else here, is there?" Netto frowned.

"What's his name?"

"Tenishi Drake – kun."

"And where is he?" Hiro asked.

"_Very_ close by…" He trailed off.

He suddenly took out a Link PET and inputted some commands on it while grinning: some data began to form out of nowhere and assembled until they gave way to Delta: he opened his eyes and his jaw hit the floor as he looked around: the other three teens were surprised as well.

"E~H? I-I've… materialized…? B-but… How…?"

"That program I gave you before we left… Mr. Sponsor came up with it as a prototype materialization program which includes recreation of clothes _and_ the ability to ingest food and drink to be processed as energy! Isn't it intriguing, gentlemen?" He explained.

"T-then…! Like Saito – kun, I'm gonna…!" He muttered.

"Have a civilian ID, of course."

"Tenishi Drake… Sounds cool!"

Hiro slowly stood up and walked over to Delta: he touched the right cheek and looked fascinated as he examined him from close by: Delta used his right hand to pull his right ear and Hiro yelped.

"A little payback…" He grinned.

"Fine. I deserved it." Hiro admitted.

"Whoa! A vacation of three became a vacation of four! Did Papa know about this, too?"

"Of course. Mr. Sponsor and he worked on it together ever since January…"

"Whoa!"

"So welcome aboard!" Mr. Denpa smiled.

"Welcome!" Netto and Saito shook hands with him.

"And this program is for me to keep?" Delta asked.

"Obviously. Now… Let's put on the swimming trunks: it's time to tackle Ms. Pool!" He rallied.

"W-whoa! Will I be alright? Eh… I mean: I don't know how to swim!"

"You'll be alright. The pool is just 220 cm deep at its max depth spot. And you can train in the waist-deep area, too."

"This vacation is suddenly turning exciting again!" Hiro grinned.

"Eh… Hiro – kun… Could you… show me around?" Delta timidly requested of him.

"We'll help, too!" The twins announced.

Delta formed a timid smile and everyone grinned…


	3. Chapter 3: Spoiled mood

**Chapter 3: Spoiled mood**

10:21 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday July the 23rd…

"… So! Is everyone ready?"

"_Hai_~!"

"Go!"

SPLASH!

"Brrr! Cold!"

"Incredible!"

"Cool!"

"W-whoa!"

"Enjoying yourselves, gentlemen?"

The twins, Hiro and Delta (sporting swimming trunks which were colored blue, brown, red and black) had jumped into the pool directly into the deepest part and emerged: Mr. Denpa (sporting black swimming trunks and brown sandals) was looking at them as he headed for the small wooden hut on the NW corner and swinging its thick wooden doors outwards.

"Maybe you want to come play technician, Hiro – kun and Drake – kun? Guess how this works!" He called out.

Both climbed out using the stairs and headed over to the hut to look at the insides of the hut: the interior was filled with bluish tiles: a cylindrical metallic deposit was set on the left side with two bluish plastic pipes coming and out at different heights: they connected with a central multi-purpose valve and the pump itself: two pipes emerged from the ground each having a large manual valve as well: one pipe came out of the hut through the right-side wall, was visible from the outside, and then continued inside of the concrete wall: a plastic grey-colored control panel with six switches was set close by: the whole set was working and humming.

"Heh! The Horror Deposit, the Rushing Pipes, the Crossroad of Fate and the Engine of Doom!" Hiro laughed.

"How lame. Really. That on the left is the filter! If you want to set the pool's engine mode then you need to switch the position of the multi-purpose valve! You can pick between filter, backwash, recirculate, waste, rinse and closed! Then you have the water intake pipes: the short one must be the skimmer intake and the long one must be the bottom of the pool! You can open and close them with the handles." Delta corrected with obvious annoyance.

"And the white plastic things around the pool have gotta be the Hundred Mouths of Hades!"

"By all the… Those are the air outlets! There's the "engine" switch over there: in that control panel! And the timer controls the number of hours the engine is working! Get it?"

"Sure, sure. Now let's go down the slide."

"Wait! Use that blue plastic basin to pick water from the pool and soak it up: there used to be a system which ended in a small hose but it got broken and now we have to do it like this. Make sure to soak to whole of its surface. And, when you climb up, grab both handles. Then grab the two edges before sliding down." Mr. Denpa instructed.

"Roger, Liquid."

"Hiro – kun! Jeez!"

"Don't mind it, Drake – kun! It's my blame for disguising as _Liquid Ocelot_ to begin with!" He admitted.

Hiro picked the basin, filled it with water and then splashed the slide: he repeated it twice while aiming higher upwards and then tossed it at the side as he climbed up and set his body so that he'd drop into the water head-first: he slid down.

"Whoa~!"

SPLASH!

"Brrr! Hah, hah, hah! _I'm the King of the world_!" He laughed.

Delta gulped and climbed up yet he sat down on the top part: he then closed his eyes and propelled himself forward.

SPLASH!

"W-whoa!"

He quickly pushed his way upwards and latched to the nearest rim section: Hiro suddenly dived and pulled his legs from underwater thus dragging him: he let go and Delta quickly emerged again while looking like he didn't like the joke.

"Hiro – kun! That was mean, you know!"

"That was the Deep – Sea Monster, ya know."

"This guy…" He grumbled.

"Is catchy." Hiro laughed.

"I give up." Delta mumbled.

A wireless phone rang out nearby and Mr. Denpa picked it up while looking slightly intrigued.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Denpa." A cold man's voice greeted: it had a marked foreign accent to it.

"Colonel Talos? Is something the matter with the "Affair" on Germany, perhaps?"

"No, no. The Germany front is stable. No… It regards Japan."

"What happened?"

"The Net Navis involved in the Saiba City complot last year… They have escaped." He let out the bombshell.

"How's that possible? Criminals' PETs are kept in specially designed isolated drawers!" He gasped.

"I know. They had external help."

"When did this happen?" Mr. Denpa asked.

"Two days ago. Yet, listen… It began when an envoy of Green Town Courts brought forth a document signed by the prosecutor in charge of that affair claiming that new evidence had surfaced and the Net Navis were to go through questioning. It wasn't unheard of. So the PETs with their wireless capabilities being locked were handed over to the envoy. He left and was supposed to return 24 hours later. He didn't and the alarms rang out: and our "envoy" left something behind in the drawers…" The man calmly detailed.

"What did he leave?"

"That's the most puzzling part: photocopies which were extracts of a book regarding pre-historic _nomadic tribes_… And a signature made in a childish manner using Windows Paint… "Sigaano Nogaano"…" Colonel Talos detailed with a hint of annoyance.

"That sounds like an aberration of the words "si gano" and "no gano" in Spanish which "I win" and "I don't win"… Yet… The word_ nomadic_ has rung a bell somewhere…" Mr. Denpa muttered.

"We should contact Mr. Sponsor. I do not like disturbing his usual researches yet this could turn ugly."

"Speaking of turning ugly… Do you think the Germany front could turn ugly, too?"

"No. The local authorities are hot on the trail. Except it to collapse in the next 12 hours." Colonel Talos affirmed.

"Good."

"By the way, wasn't Delta – dono along with you, Mr. Denpa?"

"Yeah… Eh… Can I help somehow?" Delta asked.

"Could you try to contact the "Hunters' Guild"…? Please request of them to look into the matter."

"Roger. Please leave it to me."

"Excellent. I am sorry to spoil your entertainment, gentlemen, but these news had to be told."

"Don't worry… We were half-expecting something to happen. Maybe that duo, the survivors of the "Death Club" are behind this." Netto told him with a shrug.

"Ah… Those two sneaky mice… Could be, true. We will try to figure out how that man could have obtained the signature… It may have been faked but one never knows. Over."

"Understood."

Mr. Denpa sighed and left the wireless atop the hammock where he'd extended his towel before sitting down on it and looking tired all of a sudden.

"Eh… Denpa – san? Are you alright, sir?" Saito asked.

"… Jet lag." He replied.

"Ah… True, sir…"

"… That of Saiba City last year was not worrisome because we knew how the thing worked beforehand… But now… We were confident that the security measures of the Net Prison would be enough, yet… Someone found the way to skip all fail-safes and managed to retrieve 5 potentially dangerous Net Navis…" He muttered.

"But… There are a lot of powerful Navis in Japan who can outnumber them, Denpa – san! The "Hunters' Guild" make 4. Then we have Blues, Zero, Forte… 7… We could add Beta X… 8… That Search Man guy would make 9… And if the "Three Musketeers" were to show up then we'd have up to 12! We outnumber them 2.4 – 1!" Netto countered.

"True. And almost all of them have elemental weaknesses which can be exploited to attack them." Hiro added.

"… True, true… Ah… You're right." He formed a weak smile.

"Join us in the pool and then we tackle that!" Hiro rallied.

"Alright. And I'll show you my secret techniques."

He left the reading glasses in a black plastic case which he zipped close before taking off the sandals and jumping into the water through the trampoline: he quickly swam forward while remaining as glued as possible to the ground: he used his two feet to propel upwards and broke the surface to breathe.

"Ah… Fantastic! And now… Make room over there if you may, gentlemen!" He grinned.

He suddenly pressed his right hand upon the ground and quickly arched to place his left foot into the ground next: he spun his body around before placing the left hand into the ground and repeated the spinning as he jumped backwards and stopped: the four teens clapped out of surprise yet Hiro was frowning.

"Those moves he did… I've seen them somewhere before! Where the heck was that…? O~h…! _Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots_! Raiden flipped like that in South Ameroupe as he fought off a Gekko squad!" Hiro recalled with a grin.

"True. I half-improvised them by looking the moves up."

"Cool."

"Heh, heh, heh… Now… We'll play around for a while and then prepare a good welcome meal…"

"And can I eat, too?" Delta asked.

"Of course! That's why we gave you that materialization program to begin with, Drake – kun." Mr. Denpa encouraged.

"Man. I now realize I haven't eaten anything today save for some quick _croissants_ at Paris and I still can stand!" Netto muttered.

"Maybe Diet Man will haunt your dreams, Netto – kun?"

"Oh. Come on, Saito – niisan. I'm not like Dekao."

"Yeah. I'm so thin, really, that I look like a skeleton."

"Be glad you're not that "skeleton swordsman" in _Twilight Princess_, Hiro – kun!" Delta patted the back of his right shoulder.

"Huh? A Stalfos?"

"No, no. The instructor of the "hidden skills"… That one you had to summon by howling some songs in some stones… And who took on the shape of a golden wolf…" Delta corrected.

"Oh! That guy, you mean… He talked about being a hero yet regretting not passing the skills to the next generation… Sounds like they based him off a _samurai_…" Hiro grinned.

"Speaking of that… Ms. Moon will say hi to us tonight?" Saito suddenly looked amused.

"Oh. Please. That wasn't funny." Delta rolled his eyes.

"Why?" Netto asked.

"Do you think it's funny to know the moon's going to crash into the world within the next 72 hours?" Delta asked.

"Yikes! No, no!"

"Hence why "Link" had to stop it by waking up the 4 Giants and defeating _Mujura's Mask_…" Delta sighed.

"Ahem, ahem! Let's settle the bad mood for later. Now it's a moment to relax. Let's see who can make the most spectacular jump from the trampoline!" Mr. Denpa challenged.

"YAY!"

The teens formed a queue and began to improve jumping styles as Mr. Denpa looked while remaining in the SW corner.

_Whoever did that of the Navis won't be able to hide them for long… Daring moves can lead to disaster, Mr. Conspirer!_

He chuckled under his breath and looked on…

17:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Blues."

"Regrettably enough, Enzan – sama, sir… There has been no noticeable progress. "Sigaano Nogaano" seems to be a randomly improved trolling name given information supplied by Colonel Talos of the "Committee", sir…"

"Hum. So that's how it is. Did they find out how he got the signature or he faked it?"

"No, sir. He apparently posed as a clerk on the night shift who worked there and brought the documents to the judge with a stamp which read "MAX PRIORITY"… Given the late hour and the judge's tiredness he signed them without bothering to read what they were. It would seem the man took profit of this weakness in people."

"Clever bothersome guy…"

Ijuuin Enzan was impatiently tapping the edge of his IPC VP office as he listened to his Net Navi's, Blues', report.

"What could be done, Enzan – sama?"

"Maybe that Blast Man jerk is eager for a vengeance and will bother to come all the way here to have it…" Enzan suggested with a broad shrug of his shoulders.

"Maybe yes and maybe not, the DARPA Chief told me last night as he drank some old-fashioned Louisville _Bourbon_…" A voice rang out with a hint of amusement.

"Did you say something, Blues?"

"Me, sir? No, sir."

"Then who was that voice?"

"The interphone, sir… You seem to have accidentally left it activated, Enzan – sama, and you are hearing to another department's interphone without them noticing, sir…"

"Ah. Wait. The DARPA Chief, they say? But isn't DARPA an Ameroupe government agency to begin with? We never had any deals with them as far as I know! Find out where the interphone is connected to: this reeks, Blues!" He gasped.

"Roger, Enzan - sama."

"Vice President – sama: the limo is ready, sir."

"Huh? Did I order that?" Enzan frowned.

"1 hour 14 minutes 34 seconds ago, sir."

"Man. Did I tell the chauffer where to go to?" Enzan asked.

"Yes, sir. To the _Naraku_ Night-Club, sir." The man confirmed.

"Yeah, yeah. The Na… What?" Enzan distractedly replied before he gasped and looked at the interphone in bewilderment.

"To have your weekly date with the anonymous "past-time" who we believe to be someone affiliated to the ONBA, sir…" The man trailed off but sounded respectful nevertheless.

"W-wait! Where did you hear that, mechanic? I've never done that and I'm a minor despite being the VP!"

"That new clerk, sir!"

"New clerk…?"

"The Okinawa clerk: Sigaano Nogaano, sir…"

"What! Where is he? What's his department?"

"I believe financing, sir…"

"Alright! Blues!"

"Enzan – sama: the interphone is connected to the garage."

"Check on finances for a new clerk who has come in recently!"

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

"… Ms. Lucy is here, sir." The mechanic suddenly reported with a hint of nervousness.

"Ms. Lucy?" Enzan asked.

"The owner of the club, sir. She looks annoyed, sir."

"By all the… She has to be an accomplice! Call security!"

"They went off to have some _tapas_ at the Basque bar two streets southward, sir…"

"By all the… This is crazy!"

"Enzan – sama… There's a problem, sir. Security footage reveals no – one is in the garage, there is no new clerk anywhere and no visitors have tried to come in through there, sir."

"Then who the hell was that?"

"_You gano así que me largo a lo loco_~! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"… "I win so I'm outta here crazy style~"…" Blues translated.

"By all the… That was the enemy! They were toying with us… You can make sure that Blast Man is gonna come here soon enough… Check all security: this guy might have loosened it somehow!"

"Roger, sir! Enzan – sama."

Enzan stood up and looked out into the streets which were rather deserted and empty of people: he began to tap the ground with his right foot as if to prove his nervousness.

_They have a Navi who sneaked inside and set this up… Who the hell is this "Sigaano Nogaano" guy and what does he want? Is the Navi theft a blind alley to throw us off and scatter us to then strike from an unexpected direction…? What could he do next? Damage a critical point in supply routes, a power plant, a dam or what? Hell! And here I thought this would be a dull summer…! _

He cursed under his breath and formed a grimace…


	4. Chapter 4: Parallel developments

**Chapter 4: Parallel developments**

09:45 AM (Barcelona Time), Monday July the 25th…

"… Hum, hum… Tan – dan – tan…"

Mr. Denpa whistled a tune as he walked down the street while carrying the daily newspapers and three _baguettes_: he reached the entrance door and rummaged on his jeans for the keys.

"Excuse me." A voice called out in English.

He looked to the right: there was a man standing next to an Opel car the engine of which was running.

He looked on his sixties and was rather bald.

He wore a grayish suit and he also sported sunglasses.

"What might I help you with?" Mr. Denpa asked.

"Do you know a man named "Denpa"? I believe he lives around here."

Mr. Denpa frowned under the sunglasses.

_What the heck is a foreigner doing in front of MY house in this village and how does he know about me? But he must believe the "Liquid Ocelot" disguise is my true face, thus…_

"… Ah! He left early this morning. I don't know where but he looked in a rush. He lives in that house across the street but I know his number: I could contact him. What should I tell him?"

"Hum… Ah. Have this."

The man took out a piece of a newspapers' page and handed it to Mr. Denpa.

"Tell him to call me at this number. I do not believe what this paper says and I want to know who did this."

The man handed him a business card and, before Mr. Denpa could ask more, the man climbed into the car and departed.

_If ye are in a rush, then fly back to your nest… Whatever._

Mr. Denpa shrugged and unlocked the door: he closed it and entered the front yard which he crossed and then stepped into the kitchen.

_Well! Let's see what's wrong with that foreigner._

He left the bread and newspapers on top of the glass table and picked up the black wireless phone: he then stored the sunglasses on its case and took out his reading glasses.

_What does this thing say? My, my! A Japanese newspaper English version print-out… He doesn't know Japanese, then. I guess I'll have to speak in English but no trouble with that. I don't have the CPE examination cleared in vain! Heh, heh, heh._

He read the article and frowned: he suddenly gasped and seemed to have realized something as he re-read it.

_So that's what this business is about!_

He picked the phone and dialed the number: he then cleared his throat and practiced another tune of voice which sounded like an elderly man with a lot of vigor to him.

_I'll use Zimmerman's voice…_

"Hello?" The man from before asked as the hum from his car's engine was heard on the background.

"So! You have to be a member of "them"…"

"Correct."

"And if you bothered to approach me it must be because the man who is said to have been killed by a burglar in a theft and murder incident was someone important. And you don't believe the conclusion the local police drew. And you want to know if I know someone who had a motive to do that. Let me set something straight in the first place: we DON'T believe in assassinations. We fight an attrition war yet it is by cutting off influences and supply lines. My point: we DIDN'T do this."

"Of course you didn't."

"Good. Now… That man… A launderer, I guess?"

"Correct! A _very_ important one, too! Now we've lost 500 million credits because the assassin took the laptop with him or her and thus had access to the accounts he controlled."

"Hmmm… Oh. It's so obvious! That bothersome mouse… So that's what's he's been up to! After rural banks now he strikes the very heart of his former organization and picks a fortune outta them…"

"You know who did this?"

"Keitai Denwa!"

"…"Keitai Denwa"…? Who is that man?" The bald man questioned.

"I already forgot the silly serial number you gave him… He was that man who was supposed to find out the structure of command in our organization between 2002~2008… We used to call him Agent Tengoku on this side." Mr. Denpa shrugged.

"By all the…! He died on 2009 after his car had an accident and fell out of the road due to reckless driving and bad visibility!"

"Ah. But did you ever find the body?"

"The police did: and the dental records matched!"

"My, my. He could've easily switched them around especially if it was a small prefecture. A disposable Navi makes the car go past the edge and then the thing is then archived as reckless driving. Keitai can be a clever mouse from time to time: guess we're to blame for that, yeah." Mr. Denpa laughed.

"Where's the lowlife!" The bald man growled.

"He pulled a show on us on June and then fled. He hasn't stuck his nose out here and now we see why: that fortune. He surely bought a manor in Oklahoma and is living a millionaire's life there! Use some of your gray brain cells, Hastings!" He taunted.

"You lowlifes will come later. That lowlife goes first. He who laughs last laughs better, Denpa – Henkan!"

The call ended up in an abrupt manner: Mr. Denpa made an exaggerated sigh while shrugging and placing the wireless back on its place.

"Tell that to Holmes' ghost." He muttered as if he was challenging the earlier interlocutor.

"Huh? Holmes' ghost showed up?"

"Hiro – kun. I did tell you to properly wash your face."

"Man. Ya sound like everything I do is bad to my health."

"Saito – niisan gets that behavior, too, from time to time."

"Ah, yeah? Isn't my responsibility as your big brother, Netto – kun? Are you trying to loophole it or what?"

The four teens walked into the kitchen and Mr. Denpa looked up from the newspapers' headlines with a smile.

"No, no. I was challenging a certain someone."

"The Navi thief, that "Sigaano Nogaano" or whatever guy?" Hiro asked as he barely suppressed a yawn.

"No, no. The enemy, gentlemen."

"The man in the Opel?" Saito asked as he lifted his eyebrows.

"Good eye. Correct! It turns out Keitai has had his little payback on his old bosses for treating him like a piece of junk. One of their biggest money launderers has been fired and he picked the money. 500 million of about-to-be-laundered bucks."

"500 million!" Everyone uttered.

"He came up with a simplistic set-up which those Lestrade apprentices fell for, too."

"Whoa." Everyone whistled.

"I sent them to Oklahoma outta pure randomness. Let them look for a millionaire in vain. Keitai has surely divided the whole thing into portions and will only use a minimal portion which will not raise the alarms."

"He mustn't want to bring attention to him, then." Delta guessed.

"Obviously not. And now we learned how he made them believe he was dead. A staged car accident, some swapped dental records and there you have a certified death by reckless driving."

"Whoa."

"But let's leave that talk for later: your stomach must be grumbling by now, gentlemen."

"True!"

Everyone prepared their breakfast (except for Mr. Denpa who only picked a glass in which he'd poured cold water) and then headed for the front yard into which they sat down: Netto's Link PET suddenly rang up.

"Netto! Saito! Everyone! Listen!"

"Papa?"

Yuuichirou had showed up onscreen (wearing his lab coat) and looking serious as he called from what seemed to be his office.

"I have grave news!"

"What? The 5 Navis showed up and drove Tokyo crazy?"

"No, worse than that!"

"Please, Papa… Stop with the drama. Just what happened?"

"Proto has been stolen!"

"Proto?" Hiro and Delta asked.

"What! THE Proto has…?" Mr. Denpa gasped.

"Proto, Proto… Oi, Saito – niisan! Didn't someone tell us about that thing time ago?" Netto frowned.

"You're already forgotten? Back on September, 2009! When we went to Vadous – san's residence… He explained it to us!"

"I'll explain for those not familiar with the history… "Proto" stands for "Prototype Internet"… An initial version of the Internet which had to be forcefully de-implemented…" Mr. Denpa began.

"Huh? Why?" Hiro asked.

"During the years of testing, a bug had built up on the deepest of the core sector's layers… It eventually grew into gaining intelligence similar to that of an amoeba, the gathering of unicellular organisms… Yet the scientist didn't notice that and instead believed that another project being run at the same time was the fault… Forte."

"Wha! Forte? But… Wait. When did that happen?"

"Over 20 years ago."

"Forte has been alive for over 20 years? I thought he'd been created by "Gospel"!" Hiro gasped.

"I did that, too." Delta admitted.

"Anyway… Forte was to be the world's first fully autonomous type Net Navi and had the "Get Ability" program allowing him to copy any abilities other programs held… The lead of the project was a Sharo Nation scientist, Dr. Cossack. Yet there was boycotting of the project by some of the higher staff who at the time believed Navis couldn't be more than dumb tools to become humans' proxies. They were afraid of his capability to learn and his intelligence." Mr. Denpa explained.

"So they tried to blame him?"

"Correct. And Proto played along, too. They secretly sent Elite Unit Navis to try to delete him but he overcame them and fled with a white scar across his chest which became his symbol given how his emblem is originally black and non-decorated. Yet that wasn't the end: Proto then revealed its true nature as an ever-evolving "monster" which began to "absorb" everything connected to it… It got harder to control…"

"The Internet growing outta control…! It had to be chaotic!"

"It was. The scientists were desperate to find a solution and they came up with a first risky idea: a powerful program, "Giga Freeze", which should be able to halt all processes on Proto yet if misused the whole Network could end up frozen and irremediably damaged. It was voted as too risky of an approach and thus discarded."

"What did they do, then?" Delta asked.

"Starve it."

"Huh? How can you make the Internet starve?" Hiro frowned.

"Remove _all devices_ connected to it. Cut off all transit lanes, reel back the wires, destroy the routers, switches, servers and similar devices… Reduce the extent of the infection and limit its power feed… Let it slowly decay and lose power… Close into "ground zero" and, then, when "Proto" was in a weakened state due to insufficient energy and data to maintain itself they sealed it up… forever." He detailed.

"W-whoa!"

"And it still is. Have you never seen that sealed off Science Labs section requiring four codes to open the four security doors? Those are the "Tetra Codes" which were hidden across the world afterwards. The whole "Proto" was scrapped and the incident became known as the "Proto Rebellion" yet all info on it was classified. A new Internet had to be built from scratch and this became our current Internet. Yet the whole thing had severe consequences. Dr. Cossack, believing Forte to be dead, renounced to ever research on Net Navis again and returned to Sharo Nation while mourning the death of his "child"… Some directives were forced to resign after it transpired that the bug could've been detected way in advance yet they believed Proto was immune to anything."

"But… What happened to Forte?" Hiro asked.

"That's the tragic part since he was scarred for life… He began to mistrust us humans and began to wander the Internet alone and fighting countless battles while growing in power…"

"No wonder…" Deta muttered.

"And the Reverse Internet was a result of the whole thing, too. After the incident, they speculated that the "Giga Freeze Program" might be needed to be used again one day, so… They needed somewhere to hide it and yet make it accessible… And that's when a researcher named Urakawa designed a new section of the Network largely isolated from the main one and concealed the "Giga Freeze Program"… But that Network's purpose was hidden and criminals saw it as an ideal lodging place given its initial hard accessing… But there's an authority there: the Ranked Navis and "S", the "Reverse King"…"

"Whoa! Someone actually rules over that place?" Hiro gasped.

"True. Ranking System is a method designed to test the strength of the Navis by making them challenge several Net Navis whose power increases as the ranks are being climbed up… And one who manages to achieve Rank #2 might be strong enough to use the "Giga Freeze Program"… Yet that program is dangerous to use: if the Navi were to be unable to process its whole power they'd end up frozen and it'd be very hard to restore them to normal. And Serenade is in charge of protecting it. Incidentally, he and Forte fought once and that's when Serenade managed to "kick" some sense into his confused mindset which led to an evolution of his persona until how we currently know him."

"Incredible… So, someone has stolen this "Proto", then? Did they find the "Tetra Codes"…?" Hiro summed up.

"… Wrong." Yuuichirou replied.

"Do excuse me?" Mr. Denpa politely asked.

"They bypassed them."

"Isn't that impossible, sir? The whole "vault" is surrounded by invisible containment walls, isn't it, sir?"

"True, Mr. Denpa, yet… Have a look at this … Footage of the actual theft, which happened about 2 hours ago… You'll understand what I mean once you see it…"

The screen shifted to display the imagery of a camera mounted at an angle which aimed against the NE corner of the "vault" where the bluish metallic hexagonal container had been placed at: four orange-colored barriers blocked off access to it.

"That's Proto itself?" Hiro gasped.

"Correct. But it's coded and locked by a powerful protect… The "Guardian Program" Hikari Tadashi – hakase designed… Only Forte could break it and that's why Wily, through "Gospel", tried to recreate him using "Bug Fusion" yet the whole thing was a fiasco. That might be why you had that misconception of Forte's origin."

"Phew." Delta muttered.

"Coming." Yuuichirou warned.

A sparkle of fire formed in the middle of the air and lingered there for about five seconds as its colors became a fierce orange and inner yellow glow: two flames formed at its sides and began to draw a fiery circle made out of flames: the perimeter of a narrow and tall vertical oval object was drawn and it suddenly became a black pupil: it expanded to acquire "volume" along with the circle which began a ball of raging flames: the final result was an eyeball made of flames with a black lifeless pupil which seemed to be looking around.

"W-what's that?" The four teens gasped.

"The… _Eye of Mordor_…! From the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy…! I can't be mistaken…!" Mr. Denpa muttered.

"Correct." Yuuichirou replied.

A distorted chuckle echoed out of nowhere as the eyeball suddenly grew in size until it was about a meter tall: the front of it vanished to reveal some kind of data tunnel forming inside of it: a white light began to emanate from it until it expanded into a bright flash which froze the imagery and the clock on the SE corner of the screen stopped as well: when the flash died down and the clock began ticking again Proto wasn't there anymore and the "eyeball" was gone too.

"By all the…!" Mr. Denpa cursed.

"See? And there's another thing. Serenade met this thing in the "Secret Area" where he lives and was frozen for almost two minutes. When he regained control he found out that roughly 90% of his data had been copied." Yuuichirou added.

"Why stop at 90% and not do a 100% while you're at it?" Netto asked as he broke the silence.

"The personality files…!" Saito gasped.

"Bingo."

"This guy wants to recreate a heartless Serenade which can destroy that "Guardian Program" and resurrect Proto, then!" Delta realized.

"Could this be the same guy, that "Sigaano Nogaano" guy?" Hiro suddenly asked.

"It is. I got an email with that crappy Paint-made signature. I tried to trace it down and I got Meijin's old email account which he'd abandoned 3 years ago. By the way… I got a mail from Enzan – kun apologizing over "things I dragged Hikari Jr. into at Ms. Lucy's place" yet I don't remember having heard about that… I tried to check with him but he'll be out the whole day in a general meeting." Yuuichirou brought up.

"Ms. Lucy's place? But I haven't seen Enzan in person ever since… What, April? He's always fortified there, on IPC…" Netto frowned.

"And I don't recall them doing anything together, either. Enzan is still somewhat self-centered and keeps on trying to play the cool guy in control of all." Saito sounded puzzled.

"I think it must be an attempt to bring up mistrust between us, Hikari – hakase, sir."

"Ah! Then I'll delete it. Be careful, everyone!"

"Okay, Papa!"

"Roger!"

17:39 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh, heh, heh. Home, sweet home~! Or so would E. T. say instead of that silly motto? Heh, heh, heh."

A man dressed in blue mechanic's overalls including a cap walked into a dusty and abandoned-looking room having a wooden desk, an electronic blackboard and some abandoned devices.

He carried a mask for the cold and the cap hid his sight so it was hard to tell his age.

"Have my beloved guests been behaving?" He called out.

"Ho, ho, ho… I've been training hard!"

"De a~ru… The crew completed a drill…"

"PIKIRIIRU!"

"Fu – ru – ru! We know ya trained hard, too!"

"Hum! I will punish any evil-doers!"

"That sounds good enough. Blast Man! Dive Man! Element Man! Circus Man! Judge Man! You guys will be charged with some missions later on... I have some little businesses to tend to but you can't exit this place yet. And I've set up several mechanisms to prevent that, just that ya know..."

"Roger, Sigaano – sama!"

The man seemed to form a smile under the mask for the cold and then looked at his gloved hands before chuckling.

"Too bad, _aibou_. I am fortunate in life. I can now switch between two _scenarios_ at will yet I'll wrap this one up before I make my presence fully known in the "alternate" scenario… The Network has to be trembling by now… Let it shake and rumble 'till it demands more bourbon on the rocks… Heh, heh, heh. Yet… Some military gentlemen are about to come up with an interesting showcase. Let them jump into the stage…"

He laughed aloud in a victorious tone of voice…


	5. Chapter 5: Montserrat

**Chapter 5: Montserrat **

10:12 AM (Barcelona Time), Wednesday July the 27th…

"… Here. Let's make a stop. There's a good view from this spot and we're not too far from the monastery. The real Montserrat is the one you climb up on foot! The train and the cable-car are for tourists or people who can't do the climb. Look on!"

"Wow!"

"Cool!"

"What a view!"

"Look! The monastery, there, at the right!"

The group of five (carrying backpacks and Delta being dressed in a pair of blue shorts, a white shirt, a navy blue cap, white socks and mountain boots) was standing in the middle of a cross-road in the mountain of Montserrat: the paths led north, south, east and west and the spot had a good view of the surrounding plains and villages.

"We set off early, parked in the village of Collbató, where my uncle has his summer residence, crossed the plains and then began climbing! You can now say you've experience the _real_ Montserrat!"

"Heh, heh, heh! Then let Dekao's jaw hit the floor!"

"No. Let the bodies hit the floor." Saito grinned.

"Oh yeah!" Hiro laughed.

"Jeez. There goes that glitch again." Delta grumbled.

"It comes and goes. People who come and go." Saito shrugged.

"Maybe they need to invent Travelling Man?" Mr. Denpa joked.

"Why not…" Saito shrugged.

"Oi, oi…" The other three muttered.

"Let's keep onwards!"

10:58 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… A~h… How refreshing!"

The group was sitting in a plaza close to some stairs and a set of cascading fountains: various buildings and trees were placed close by and people walked up and down.

"Phew! Those sandwiches sure were delicious!" Netto commented.

"I feel so filled…!" Hiro muttered.

"That's what happens to gluttons like you two." Saito commented with a smirk.

"Yeah. Learn the lesson." Delta added with a smirk as well.

"OI!" Both shouted at each other to complain.

"Let's get moving to see the basilica, shall we?"

"Roger!"

They stood up and calmly headed towards the yard in front of the basilica: people were constantly moving in and out of it: Mr. Denpa's cell phone suddenly rang and the group stopped.

"Colonel Talos…? It must be news from Japan… But please go on ahead: I'll tell you later if something important has surfaced."

"O. K.!"

"Last one buys a sandwich!" Netto challenged.

"Oi! Not fair, Netto – kun!" Saito protested.

"Yeah! Come here!"

"Don't run and yell, you guys…" Delta rolled his eyes.

"The wok was too cooked yesterday evening?" Colonel Talos asked over the phone.

"Yeah. I filed a complaint."

"Password check: all green."

"What might the matter be, Colonel?"

"The Germany front…" Colonel Talos went straight to the point.

"It collapsed? Took enough time…" He tried to guess.

"No. That's the strange part. The commando group from Norwood which we were investigating vanished off the radar in Friday and they reappeared on Tuesday… At a location quite far away from where they originally were at…" He reported.

"What! Where?" He gasped.

"A village named Monistrol de Montserrat, somewhere in Catalonia… I called you because you might be able to tell me if there's something important there?"

"Important…? Well… It's a stone's throw from the mountain and both the cable-car and train depart from there plus the car road… It's the best place go to if you want easy access to the monastery… Yet… You say they showed up there yesterday? Where are they now?" Mr. Denpa frowned and sounded concerned.

"Their track was lost around the foothills of the mountain… They did find an abandoned shed which seemed to have been used for something but no trace from them… They were a group of about 10… But it'd seem they're rotated from time to time, too…" Colonel Talos replied.

"… _Què passa?_" ("What's going on?")

"… _No ho sé_…" ("Dunno…")

"… _Has vist mai que tanquessin les portes?" _("Have you seen them lock the doors before?")

"… _No, mai._" ("No, never.")

Mr. Denpa turned around to see an agglomeration of people gathering outside of the basilica the doors of which had been locked: some visitors began to sound puzzled.

"What's going on?" Colonel Talos asked.

"I'll ask."

Mr. Denpa headed for a man who had a badge indicating he was a guide: he looked as surprised as everyone else.

"_Dispensi!_" ("Excuse me!")

"_En què el puc ajudar?"_ ("How might I help you?")

"_Sap perquè han tancat les portes?_" ("Do you know why the doors have been locked?")

"_Doncs miri, és molt estrany! Uns monjos que només parlaven anglès han annunciat que era l'hora de la missa. Però mai he vist que tanquessin per dins!"_

("You see: it's rather odd! Some monks who only talked English announced it was mass time. But they've never locked the doors from the inside!")

"_Gràcies."_ ("Thank you.")

"_No hi ha de què._" ("There was no need.")

"So?"

"Monks who only talked English told everyone it was mass time and they had to lock from the inside."

"Monks who _only_ talked English?" Colonel Talos sounded surprised.

"Something's out of place. The monks here _could_ know English but they'd address people in Catalan."

"Hmmm… Wait, wait. Could be it that the shed actually contained _monk's clothes_ to hide their appearance and…?"

"And then they replaced the real monks and took their place to lock people inside of the basilica…! Hostage crisis…!"

"By all the…! What do we do?"

"We need Mr. Sponsor's help. I know how to contact him."

"Good! Please keep me informed."

"Roger."

Mr. Denpa cursed something under his breath as he dialed another number and waited for the connection to be made.

"Hello?" A slightly sleepy voice asked.

"Mr. Sponsor? It's me. Mr. Denpa."

"Hmmm… Do we have news regarding the Proto theft?"

"No, sir. But we're in trouble, sir."

"Obviously, with that thief roaming loose…"

"No, sir. The problem is here, on Montserrat."

"Montserrat? What, the cable-car broke?"

"No, sir! Besides, we came on foot. No… What happened is this: a foreign command group has taken hostage a lot of tourists inside of the basilica, including the gentlemen. They disguised as monks and snuck here probably in the very early dawn."

"The gentlemen…? Wait! Do you mean the Hikari brothers, Akashi and Delta, then?" The man gasped.

"Correct, sir! We need your help, sir."

"How many of them are there?"

"The reports say about 10 of them…"

"10… And they must be the greedy types, too. I have a plan. We'll make them fight each other. And then the riot squad police can come in to handle the situation. How many hostages are there?"

"Hard to say, sir…"

"Che! I'll send Omega there. I'll teach them yet!"

11:11 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… Man. Why do these things always happen to us? "Wrong place, wrong time"… That's how we got involved with the WWW, the "Professor" and "Gospel"… Jeez."

"Lower your voice, Netto – kun! Fortunately, I don't think those men can understand us. They look foreign…"

"They've taken all of our PETs, cameras and other electronic devices from people… Any ideas, Drake?"

"Eh… Maybe they want to bargain us for money, like in the movies…"

"Could be, true…"

The four teens were sitting on the ground next to the wall with their hands behind their heads and whispering as about 8 commando men sporting brown camouflage clothes and balaclavas plus being armed with grenades and AKs – 47u weapons were patrolling the insides: many other visitors were in the same poses: some monks' tunics could be seen thrown at random around the area.

"We got in and we didn't hear them closing the doors behind us and then shot a salve into the air before tossing their disguises and putting on the balaclavas… And it's been, what, 10 minutes by now?" Hiro whispered with some annoyance.

"Guess so… We can only hope Mr. Denpa will come up with something… Maybe he'll call Vadous – san and he can do something…" Netto whispered back.

"My glitch is gone and it's no wonder. No – one would feel like kidding in such a situation." Saito muttered.

"Why don't you have it be looked up?" Delta whispered.

"I told you: it's hard to spot why it happens."

"Chut! Let's be quiet: I don't like the hostile look from that guy over there directed to us…" Hiro scolded.

11:13 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… Man. What a pile. Well. Just what do ya want outta this stuff, Mr. Smith? Anything specific?"

"Look for a blue and white PET and another colored red and white… Then transmit the Navis inside into your PC. I've injected the agreed first half of the money into the accounts. The other half will come once I confirm we've gotten those two Navis."

"But, really… Ya needed to set up this whole ruckus just to get two of these silly things?"

"You may think they're silly. My bosses do not. Now do as I say and you will get the money plus a 10% extra."

"10% extra? That's better. Wasn't funny to have to lock all those monks, nuns and staff on their rooms to then replace them…"

A man who looked like the leader of the commando given a silver badge on his right shoulder was using a laptop to speak with another man wearing greenish military clothes plus a cap which he was pulling downwards to hide his face: a large bag filled with PETs, digital cameras, cell – phones, camcorders, smart-phones and iPods was on the ground next to leader, who was sitting in a chair and leaning the PC in a small portable tablet.

"Ya heard Mr. Smith. Blue and white, red and white."

"Roger, Boss… Here."

Another command man handed him Netto's and Hiro's PETs which the commando leader then aimed towards the IR port in the computer: Mr. Smith began to form an eager smile.

"Plug – In. Transmission."

"KB! Check it out."

"Roger, Mr. Smith."

"Well?"

"Eh… Nothing, sir."

"What do you mean? Explain it to me!"

"Eh… Mr. Smith, sir… Nothing has entered the computer. The PETs were empty…" "KB" reported.

"EMPTY? IMPOSSIBLE! CHECK THEM OUT OR SOMEONE'S HEAD WILL ROLL ACROSS THE GROUND!" Mr. Smith yelled: a foreign accent could be picked up in his largely standard English.

"R-roger, sir!"

There were some beeping sounds as both PET screens lighted up and data scrolled down them only to transform into the words "NO NAVI" colored fluorescent green.

"Eh… Mr. Smith, sir? Rock Man EXE has been plugged into a device yet it has no ID tag: it's blank! And Delta has left the PET yet it doesn't say where he went to... And that was on Saturday… Yet Rock Man EXE hasn't returned to the PET ever since June…" "KB" explained.

"T-that's ridiculous! Blank ID tag? Leaving the PET but no record of where the kid went to? Are you kidding me or what?"

"No, sir!"

"I don't think he's trolling you either, Mr. Smith." The leader argued.

"Bring me the owners! 20% extra!"

"20%? Inject it first."

"Fine! KB! Do the transaction!"

"Roger, sir!"

The leader wait a few minutes until a window popped out onscreen and displayed some information: he read it up and nodded in agreement before signaling for the two men on the room who came closer and saluted.

"So? Who are the owners?"

"A kid with a blue bandana and another with black hair and a red vest: drag them here!" Mr. Smith hissed.

"Ya heard the guy. But don't push it, either. If the cops find out any of the hostages got wounded then we're in trouble." The leader told the two men.

"Roger, Boss."

They headed out while Mr. Smith could be heard fuming and tapping something off-screen out of pure impatience.

"Move it, pests."

Netto and Hiro were made to march in while the two men aimed the AKs – 47u at their backs: both had their hands clutching the back of his head yet they didn't look surprised.

"You gnats! Where are those Navis?"

"Need Not To Know. Ask the Net Police." Netto challenged.

"What? Speak English!" Mr. Smith growled.

"Not here." Hiro replied in English.

"Where are they?"

"Need Not To Know. Net Police secret." Netto shot back.

"Net Police secret? Don't mess around with me! Confess or I'll have you go through a nightmare!"

"Don't involve us." The leader warned Mr. Smith.

"No, I didn't mean you!" Mr. Smith growled.

"That guy's not from King Land… He has foreign accent which gives out that he lives in another country and English ain't his forte." Hiro whispered to Netto.

"Yeah. I noticed. Wait. Maybe he's…?"

"That wouldn't surprise me."

"What are you babbling about?"

"You are Z – Nation." Both announced.

"W-what! How could you…?"

"Z – Nation? Well! It happens that I don't like the guys: always looking down on us commandos… And I guess this money was robbed from somewhere and it'll be tracked to us. You gave it out to cleanse your own dirty hands and fill us with mud, huh?" The leader growled.

"Shaddup! Don't want the money? Then I'll take it back!" Mr. Smith grumbled.

"Whatever. So you just used us when ya could've sent some of your ever-so-competent military agents to do a grunt's work. I don't do grunt's work for types who look down on us. I'm gonna keep the money but I won't do anything ya say anymore."

"… What the…!"

"What a weasel!"

"Let's force him to give us our agreed portion!"

"Treating us like imbeciles…!"

"Let's go!"

"Yeah! Union makes force! Bill, ya stay here and watch the hostages while we force Boss to negotiate!"

"O. K."

Six command men ran in while looking rather annoyed and the leader turned around, surprised.

"Bill told us! He found a note you dropped in which ya were calculating about only giving us 500 and keeping the remaining 5500 for ya alone! That's not what we'd said we'd do! We'd said 1000 per head! You moron!" One soldier accused the leader.

"W-what?" The leader gasped.

"No "what", Boss! Give us 1000 as agreed!"

"But I was gonna give 1000 anyway…!"

"Ah! That Mr. Smith also gave us an extra 20% but I guess Boss is planning on keeping it for himself!" One of the two soldiers growled.

"Che! I'm off. I'll remember this, you gnats!" Mr. Smith growled.

His window closed and Hiro and Netto looked at how the men had gotten to the hands with the Boss who was scolding them: they all were focused on him so they took the chance to slip out back into the main room just as the doors were forced open and the riot squad police ran in.

"Police! Where are the criminals?" One asked.

"T-there! The chapel!" Hiro signaled.

"How many are there?"

"9…"

"Good! We outnumber them. Team A: seize them! Team B: check on the presents! Move, move!"

"Roger, sir!"

Hiro and Netto saw a squad of about 15 men ran towards the chapel: sounds of a quarrel rang out but soon died down.

"This is Team A! We've seized them!"

"Good work! You can leave, ladies and gentlemen!"

The persons didn't waste a second and ran out into the yard: Hiro and Netto reunited with Delta and Saito before going out and spotting Mr. Denpa waiting for them with the cell phone still on his right hand.

"Gentlemen! Are you alright?"

"Somehow…!" Netto muttered.

"We were lucky that they started to fight each other…!" Hiro muttered with obvious relief.

"That was Omega." Mr. Sponsor said from the cell-phone.

"Vadous – san!" Everyone gasped.

"Yo! The Four Heavenly Princes have come?" A voice asked.

"Omega!" Netto exclaimed.

"Yessir! Uncle Omega took out of them out and then used a hologram projector plus mike to fool them into fighting each other and making the job easier for the police! I'm a genius!" Omega laughed.

"I came up with the idea." Vadous reminded him.

"Sure, _Darth_ Vadous."

"Stop with that idiotic nickname!" He growled.

"Hey. At least it's cooler than "Sigaano Nogaano" which has to be Uncle Jeremy's ghost."

"What "Uncle Jeremy"? Be serious!"

"The Z – Nation were behind this! They wanted to abduct Rock Man and Delta!" Hiro reported.

"Z – Nation! By all the… I thought they were having enough trouble fighting off the economical crisis brought upon by overspending on defense…" Vadous cursed.

"The man named himself "Mr. Smith" but that's a cheap alias. We think a Navi was present, too." Netto added.

"Omega! Go check it out!"

"_Yay! Check it out_!" He made a slightly pitchy voice.

"That's Bright Man's voice, isn't it?" Saito recalled.

"Yessir! I'm gonna find out if Mr. Smith had an exquisite beer at the Blue Swan Pub in Manchester!"

"Stop making up stuff out of the blue and get there before the police take it away." Vadous grumbled.

Netto's PET rang out and he picked it up: both Yuuichirou and Haruka were on-screen.

"Netto! Saito! Are you alright? There were news about a hijacking incident in Montserrat and because I knew you were there today…!" Yuuichirou exclaimed.

"We got caught up on it, Papa, but we're alright."

"Thank goodness…!" Haruka sighed in relief.

"The Z – Nation was behind it: they wanted to use Rock Man and Delta for their own profits." Saito added.

"By all the… The Z – Nation! The last thing we needed. First the Navis escape, then Proto is robbed, Serenade is hacked and now this. What a chaotic July!" Yuuichirou cursed.

"I shall not offer any excuses." Mr. Denpa bowed.

"No, no! You are not to blame, Mr. Denpa."

"At least I was able to solve this in neat manner… The Z – Nation has asked for it: we'll begin to study a way to bring their infamous military tyranny to an end from the inside." Vadous muttered.

"They can't be allowed to roam unchecked anymore. Let's be thankful they don't have nukes like other countries."

"Hiya~! Uncle Omega's back! The Navi's name find I did not yet the culprit name find I did: General Alister Sentou, 40s!" Omega announced.

"Oh. Come on. Don't imitate Master Yoda now."

"He was able to give good old Sidious some trouble~!"

"Stop with the _Star Wars_ jokes and go try to find out the Navi's name: gotcha?" Vadous grumbled.

"Roger, Hemmingway!"

The group formed weak smiles and Vadous seemingly sighed in relief while Omega giggled on the background…


	6. Chapter 6: Suspicions

**Chapter 6: Suspicions**

14:34 PM (Japan Time), Friday July the 29th…

"… Alright. We're all here… Wait. Where's Blizzard Man?"

"That guy? Looking in another cold place, I guess."

"Does he really believe our culprit is there?"

"Dunno!"

"Now, now. Let's calm down!"

"Whoops! Sorry for the delay: the ice-cream factory in Nagoya was neat and clean!"

"Nagoya… Come on."

"What's with ya, Cloud Man? Do ya hate me or what?"

"I don't think so. Right, Cosmo Man?"

"True, Red Sword."

"Ahem, ahem! Let's start the "Hunters' Guild" meeting!"

"Roger."

Cloud Man, Cosmo Man, Blizzard Man and a fourth guy had gathered inside of a small square having a red metallic arch to signal the entry/exit point and with the name "Hunters' Guild" painted azure set against a greenish background.

"So, Cloud Man… What do you have?"

"Not much…"

"Blizzard Man?"

"Well… Not much, either…"

"And ya, Cosmo Man?"

"Heh, heh, heh. I have a piece of interesting information…"

"Do you have anything to say before that, Red Sword?"

"No. Go on ahead."

Red Sword had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

His main "skin" color was black.

Yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

"Well! I went to explore Kotobuki Town and I found a witness who told me Blast Man had been around there. He was mumbling things like "idiotic jerk", "stupid Boss", "half-crazy old man", "bored to death", "I don't do a grunt's work" and so on… He added something intriguing which was "abandoned, dusty and dull island in the middle of nowhere"… That happened around 6 AM." Cosmo Man detailed.

"Hmmm… So it'd seem he's gone off on his own to try to have fun and ditched his boss… Now… If we could locate them or catch them…" Red Sword muttered.

"Ho, ho, ho… It isn't "gone off": the great me ditched them. I've been looking for you lowlifes… Be incinerated!"

"Speaking of the devil…" Red Sword grinned.

Blast Man suddenly showed up there while chuckling and looking rather confident.

"I am Blast Man – sama: I'll burn you lowlifes to cinders!"

"Bring it on! Snow Rolling!"

"Cloud Thunder!"

"Cosmo Buster!"

"Delta Ray Edge!"

"Flame Vortex!"

Snow Man formed a snow-ball which he kicked with his right foot: Cloud Man formed a small cloud which frizzled with electricity, Cosmo Man summoned small golden spheroids with rings surrounding their bodies which he threw towards Blast Man.

"More and more~!"

Red Sword drew a red triangle which shot towards the enemy: Blast Man formed a spiral of flames which didn't meet the target given how he was bombarded by the five consecutive attacks: he was momentarily stunned but he recovered and growled.

"Running Flames!"

He summoned three flames which ran down across the ground but the group dodged and he didn't spot a figure moving towards him from behind in a blur.

BLOF! PATAF! CRASH! THUD!

"Uack! Guah! Ugh! Gra~h! You lowlife…!"

"Name's Omega, ya see."

Omega was about one meter and eighty tall.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed amusement while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

He also carried a pyramid-shaped emerald green saber weapon on his right hand which had white a trapeze base and hilt.

He'd kicked and punched Blast Man several times in a row before driving him into the ground and making get stuck there as he groaned.

"You lowlife…! You were there, one year ago, when the great me, Dive Man and the remaining "Believers" were rounded up!" Blast Man cursed as he recognized him.

"Good memory, Mr. Brown Hat."

"You lowlife… I'll turn you into cinders!"

"I don't think so~! Eat this!"

Omega suddenly jumped into the air and then dropped while leaning his feet on the lower edges of his sword and grabbing it by the hilt: the sword plunged into Blast Man's body.

"Gruckh!"

He was suddenly turned into stone before Omega unplugged the weapon and jumped back into the ground: the other four looked totally surprised: Omega switched off the weapon and spun it on his right hand while humming a tune.

"W-what did the guy do?" Blizzard Man wondered.

"Easy money! I installed a program which forcibly shuts down all of the Navi's functions. Now the Officials will be taking this guy back to where he escaped from and check his memory files." Omega grinned.

"Good!" Cloud Man grinned.

"I should say it's about to rain prosecutors on this guy."

"Rain prosecutors… That sounds so ridiculous, really."

"Yo~! What's going on today?"

Forte stepped into the area followed by "Gospel Jr." that was a slightly shorter in height and mass version of the "Gospel" that had been accidentally created by the Net Mafia of the same group.

"My, my. Stone Man showed up around here, then."

"Stone Man? Oh yeah. That silly guy they charged with sabotaging the Metro-Line… He could only say "go" or "ko"…" Omega laughed.

"What bothersome foolish people!" A deep voice rang out.

They looked around and spotted that "Eye of Mordor" thing looking towards them from higher in the air.

"We R – Nation will soon achieve supremacy thanks to our military satellites armed with orbital weapons! The UN is powerless to halt us!"

"After the Z – Nation the R – Nation shows up next… Jeez."

"Wander in despair and hopelessness! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

The phenomenon vanished and they all grumbled under their breaths.

"Lovely. Just lovely." Omega fumed.

"Say… Ya seem to be turning serious as of today…" Blizzard Man tried to shatter the ice.

"Huh? Really? Guess that. Even my humor seems to have a limit when faced with something REALLY annoying."

"Such as Gojira wannabes?"

"Gojira wannabes? Mecha Gojira?"

"Yeah! Mecha Gojira V1 disguised as Gojira to try to blame the real one for the wreck, see!"

"Wait a minute. What did you just say?"

"Huh? Mecha Gojira V1 disguised as Gojira…"

"…to blame the real one for the wreck…" Omega frowned and trailed off as if he'd suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"That means that…" Cosmo Man grasped it too.

"That "Eye" might not be the R – Nation and is trying to blame them for the mess." Omega summed up.

"Then… Who are they?" Cloud Man wondered.

"I'd like to know that too." Omega grumbled.

"We'd all like to. Truly."

"What's the matter, guys?" Forte joined them.

"Just when it looked like the R – Nation was butting in…"

"Something happened?"

"Blizzard Man gave me an idea: the culprit could be pretending to place the blame on them. To turn them into scapegoats. Using their lack of credibility."

"I see."

"So then! Come out if you've got the guts, you fake! I'll expose your true identity!" Red Sword challenged.

"Red Bullet bites?" The culprit's voice taunted.

"You lowlife…" He icily hissed.

"Golden Statue moves?"

"This fool…!"

"Storm Man stole the climax?"

"Wha~t?"

"Skiing Man built a ski slope in 66 hours?"

"Whaddya say~?"

"Desperado Man returned from Mexico?"

"Sheesh."

"Crimson Overkill showed up next?"

"WHAT?" He growled.

"Cool it down! All of you!" Someone commanded over Omega's radio channel.

"But see there, _shachou_, this guy…!"

"Heh, heh, heh. What taste does data have? Our beloved beasts. Do enjoy yourselves… in the ensuing overkill… Heh, heh, heh." The culprit taunted them.

"That voice… I've got the feeling I've heard it before…!" Omega's boss muttered.

"I've got that hunch too. And it's not a nice one." Omega fumed and formed a grimace.

"Nothing good can come out of that!" Cosmo Man sentenced.

The group fumed out of annoyance and exasperation…

08:04 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… BARROTS & PARROTS!"

"YIKES!"

"AH!"

Both Delta and Hiro woke up and sat up on their beds, startled: they heard a familiar chuckle and spotted Mr. Denpa leaving the room and then climbing up the stairs.

"Huh… Good morning, Hiro – kun." Delta greeted while rubbing his eyes.

"'Morning…" Hiro replied as he let out a large yawn.

"BARROTEN & PARROTEN!"

"AH!"

"HUH!"

Another low-toned chuckle indicated that Mr. Denpa had just woken up the twins with his exclamation as well.

"Huh… 'Morning, Saito – niisan…" Netto let out quite a large yawn which could be heard from the first floor.

"Good morning, Netto – kun… There goes yet another of Denpa – san's early morning jokes… He sure is fond of them…" Saito barely suppressed another yawn.

Hiro and Delta stretched as they climbed out of their beds and then pulled the curtains to open up the shutters: the day was splendid and a fresh air flew into the room: they then heard the twins walk down the stairs and enter their room.

"Morning, guys."

"Morning."

"By the way… I got the "parrots" thing, but I don't know what he meant by "barrots"…" Netto brought up.

"He said the same thing again but he was using a German accent when waking you two up." Hiro frowned.

"Huh… I think I read somewhere that "barrots" means "bars" as in window bars…" Saito scratched the back of his head.

"So that's what he meant to say…" Netto repressed another yawn.

They headed downstairs and began to prepare their breakfasts before heading into the front yard: Mr. Denpa was shuffling through the newspapers in a distracted manner.

"Any news, Denpa – san?" Saito asked.

"Correct. Blast Man got loose so they had to put the brakes on him: and the "Eye of Mordor" claimed to be someone from the R – Nation."

"R – Nation?" Hiro frowned.

"Located close to Mongolia, the R – Nation possess a lot of military satellites. In fact… The one Wily wanted to hijack back when he led the WWW… Where he would load the Dream Virus into… Belong to the R – Nation… Both countries surfaced after the collapse of the Soviet Sharo Nation and quickly evolved into countries like Burma and North Korea: military dictatorships. Yet the Z – Nation specializes in ground tactics while the R – Nation claims that it's already staged the "new generation deterrence"…" Mr. Denpa explained.

"They don't sound like nice places but at least they don't have nukes like North Korea is said to have…" Delta muttered.

"Anyway, it'd seem it was their handiwork yet they didn't know anything about what happened in Montserrat… That General Sentou man led the operation on his own along with a Net Navi named "KB" who remains to be identified…" Mr. Denpa told them.

"Lovely. Now they have Proto and Serenade's copy which they can use to cause chaos anytime they want. They'd load Proto into satellites and damage them…" Netto grumbled.

"Yeah. What a mess."

"Now, now. Let's not get upset over that and enjoy: it's been barely a week since we arrived. We have two weeks ahead of us to enjoy! By the way, Drake – kun… Have you thought about our proposition?" Mr. Denpa asked him.

"I have. And I am sorry, but I will turn it down. I don't want to forget I'm a Net Navi. Hiro – kun's Net Navi. I'll be his Navi during school hours and I can be his real-world partner outside of that time." Delta explained with a smile.

"Oh. So that's why you looked so thoughtful as of late… But if that's your decision then I won't force you. Yet…" Hiro grinned.

"What?"

"I can tease ya and see what stuff ya are made of…" He teased.

"I can bear with that as long as you pull a stop when I feel you're about to transgress a border." Delta warned.

"Alright." Hiro lifted his hands as if to prove he didn't have anything hidden on them.

"Now… We'll be going to visit an interesting place in Barcelona soon enough, maybe tomorrow or past… I first want to do some visiting of the county with its villages and towns… This part is rich in wine and cava production, so…" Mr. Denpa smiled.

"So Wine Man is gonna make us get drunk." Hiro laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Very original, really." Netto looked skeptical.

"Can't you come up with something smarter?" Saito sighed.

"Or something not so vulgar…" Delta added.

"Let him be, gentlemen. He who laughs last laughs better."

"Yeah, yeah. Ya just wait." The three of them grinned at him.

"Jeez."

Mr. Denpa chuckled and formed a smile…


	7. Chapter 7: Side plot

**Chapter 7: Side plot**

10:11 AM (Japan Time), Sunday July the 31st…

"… JEEZ! I'm - BORED! To death! Totally! I wanna have a piece of the action, too! I wanna find that guy who stole the p-something from the Science Labs and beat him in a Net Battle!"

"Guts, guts! Dekao – sama will win! Guts!"

"Yo! Ya over there!"

"Huh? Who are ya?"

"Aragoma Torakichi: a middle school 3rd grade student in Akindo City and a genius at Net Battles!" He announced.

Aragoma Torakichi struck as being taller than Dekao, maybe being over a meter and sixty tall: he had brown hair falling down across both sides of his head and equally brown eyes.

He sported an orange cap without a visor and fur placed on both sides of it plus a pair of round smoked glasses colored green.

He then wore a greenish jumper with fur around the neck area and the wrists plus a brighter green vertical stripe on the half of it.

He had a brown belt on his waist with a metallic hilt and wore plain brownish jeans.

Lastly, he sported gray and red sneakers.

"A genius at Net Battles? Then I challenge ya as the Champion of Akihara Town! Ooyama Dekao – sama and Guts Man!"

"Hah! I have no interest in small fry."

"Wha~t? How dare ya call me small fry?"

"'Cause I came here to challenge that Hikari Netto guy and Rock Man: I wanna see if what they say 'bout them is true! Ya gotta be the loser who refuses to admit it and then brags! Hah! I've seen through that cheap disguise a thousand times by now. _Aho_~!"

"Bring it on, twerp!" Dekao challenged.

"Ya asked for it! The squirrel statue!"

"Go, Guts Man! Plug In! Guts Man, Transmission!"

"Go, King Man! Plug In! King Man, Transmission!"

Guts Man entered the Cyber World of the squirrel statue and soon faced his opponent, King Man.

"I predict victory within 3 moves!"

King Man appealed to be over a meter and seventy tall, and, like his name hinted, was shaped like the "king" piece of the chess game.

His face had two simple eyes drawn on it plus a slightly exaggerated white moustache spreading until the shoulders: a golden crown was set around his forehead which had his emblem set upon it (a white crown with three pearls drawn above each spike and surrounded by a golden edge) plus the black cross typical of the "king" piece.

His shoulders were designed as spheroids and his arms lacked elbows: they ended in three discs piled on the wrists and his hands' skin was black yet they had four fingers instead of five.

His main body was that of a "king" piece colored with a black and white square pattern: a red coat with three silver edges had been built around the torso and it extended past his arms and until the wrists.

"Guts, guts! Mega Guts Punch!"

"Go, Rook! Attack, Horse!"

A "rook" and a "horse" formed on the field: the "rook" slashed Guts Man with a sword when he tried to come closer: the "horse" then jumped into the air and landed atop Guts Man thus inflicting damage to him: Guts Man muttered something.

"Guts Machine Gun!"

"Defend, Tower!"

A "tower" formed on the field in front of King Man and bounced off all rounds to Guts Man's total surprise: the "horse" then landed atop him again and he grumbled.

"3rd round! Checkmate! The end!"

King Man himself jumped and then landed down atop Guts Man who collapsed into the ground and then was logged out: Dekao's jaw hit the floor and he looked shocked.

"Told ya. Where's Hikari?"

"Ain't here."

Sakurai Meiru walked over to them while looking totally unimpressed: she sported jeans today yet she kept her usual top clothes.

She'd cut her hair a bit to make it shorter and carried a pendant with the words "CO" engraved there using blood red color.

"Ah? Where can I find 'im, miss?" Aragoma asked.

"Fly." She merely replied.

"Huh? Fly?"

"Fly to Barcelona. Somewhere in the periphery, I believe." She calmly shrugged her shoulders.

"What… Ain't in Japan? When does the guy come back?"

"In another two weeks, I believe."

"Two weeks? Man. Can't be helped…" He sighed.

"You beat that accumulation of fats and calories?" She grinned.

"Sure thing, Miss."

"Heh. Plead to Kami – sama, Ooyama. I'll soon become a deadlier person than ya could ever imagine." She made a smug smile.

Dekao turned white and suddenly ran off, Aragoma gulped and she looked somewhat psychotic plus giggling under her breath…

08:45 AM (Burma Time)…

"… What did you say?"

"Do I need to repeat myself, General Sentou?"

A man on his 40s who had black short hair and brownish eye irises (wearing green military attire plus badges plus boots) was sitting in a chair behind a desk having an open laptop and speaking with someone over the phone while looking annoyed.

"If do not prove yourself capable of occupying your rank and post, you shall court-martialed and degraded. I am rather suspicious of _how_ you got into that rank to begin with. I am sure that some dirty play must be behind it." A cold voice was saying.

"B-but…!" He tried to argue.

"Do I need to remind you who you are addressing?" The voice asked with a hint of hostility.

"Excellency! Please do be realistic! What use is there on making such claims without solid evidence to support them?" Sentou pleaded.

"Evidence? That is no matter. It can be found, sooner or later. This military institution does not work to serve petty interests. It works together to maintain order in this country." The voice replied.

"Were it not for those unforeseen factors, we would have gained powerful tools to stand our ground against our enemies, Excellency!" He pleaded again.

"While I generally agree with the need to use any necessary tools, I would rather prefer them to be produced by us than try to steal them. If we were to be attacked in retaliation for something which happened in a foreign country, it could prove badly to us. That looked like a last desperate gamble and must have weakened our image." The voice replied.

"I do have a plan which cannot go wrong this time! I was planning on acquiring a tool which would allow us to control the _whole Internet_ at our will!" General Sentou announced.

"… You have this last chance. You will be given no more chances." The voice sentenced.

"Thank you very much, Excellency! I shall not disappoint you!" General Sentou assured him.

"You better not." The voice warned with a hint of menace.

The line went dead all of a sudden and General Sentou sighed in relief as he placed the phone back on its base and grinned.

"Phew. I got a small margin to operate… Heh, heh, heh. Let those fools look around for that R – Nation hacker… My scheme is perfect and I will get a tool capable of controlling the Internet! KB! Come!"

"You have summoned me, General?"

"I'll give you a little job. Conceal your departure because you will to cross the border yet your status will let you oblige the guards to shut their traps if they wanna live. Go search for information on something named "C" which was detected some time ago..." General Sentou grinned.

"Do excuse me, but without a country and a time frame…" The Navi requested.

"Japan, about 20 years ago."

"About 20 years ago… Before or after the "Proto Rebellion", sir? It'll help narrow the search."

"I'd say _at the same time_ as the "Proto Rebellion"…" General Sentou replied with a grin.

"I doubt it being of public knowledge, then. The information must be concealed in a government computer… But the information couldn't have been recorded if it was something dangerous which was supposed to remain hidden, too…" "KB" muttered.

"Don't worry… I'm sure some record HAS to be left at the Science Labs' top-rank computers… Heh, heh, heh…"

He chuckled under his breath and rubbed his hands…

09:19 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… CHA~RGE~!" A voice commanded.

"Ah!"

"Yikes!"

Hiro and Delta sat up all of a sudden on their beds, startled, and they quickly recovered.

"FIRE~!"

"Huh!"

"Ah!"

Netto and Saito also woke up and heard the typical chuckle walking down the steps.

"Huh… He sounded like a cavalry commander…" Netto commented.

"I agree." Saito muttered.

"He did tell us that his father had to do the mandatory military service and was an AAC gunner…" Hiro commented as he climbed up.

"Maybe he got it from there." Delta suggested.

They climbed downstairs and Mr. Denpa greeted them with a smile as he spread out the bread bars on top of the table.

"You know the drilling drill of drills, gentlemen."

He walked out while chuckling and the group looked surprised at his new-found joke.

"And today we'll go visit the place we talked about."

"Oh yeah. It's a nice place." Netto grinned.

"You'll find it interesting." Saito teased.

Hiro and Delta lifted their eyebrows in surprise while Netto and Saito formed broad grins on their faces…

16:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Fu – ru – ru! Who is gonna halt us this time around, eh?"

"Hum! No grunts will."

"KAAKUU… RIIKAA…"

"De a~ru… "I am invincible. Let them come"… True, true!"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah. The corrupt judge showed his hide around the _makai_?"

"Come on, Sigma… Don't say nonsense."

"Did ya say something, Brad Shad?"

"Not again…"

"I guess the clown jerk remembers me."

"Wha! T-that guy's…!"

"De a~ru! Those two! They arrested me the last summer!"

"By all the… The black demon!"

"KUURAA… AJIIKAA!"

"… De a~ru… "What… Bothersome interlopers!" … True! Let's torpedo them!"

"I'm joining the mission, too."

"Our fallen angel is gonna?"

"Sigma! Don't be rude to Beta X."

The escaped Net Navis were facing a group of defending Navis in the Official Square.

"I don't care. I know my design looks like it."

"You clown. Go back to your bankrupt circus."

"Fu – ru – ru! How does he dare?"

"De a~ru… Captain Dive Man will go first!"

"Mwa, hah, hah, hah. Sigma will bring this guy down."

Sigma was about two meters tall and colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

His spheroid seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which was easily over a meter tall.

Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.

"Judge Man will judge that red gnat!"

"You mean "Blood Shadow"."

"Then you admit being an assassin!"

"Mwah, hah, hah… That's a first!"

"By all the… You're thicker than I thought. How does my name hint at me being an assassin when I ain't?"

"You make blood be spilled!"

"Blood means "blood red color"!"

Blood Shadow, on the other hand, looked about the same height as Rock Man or Delta: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Fu – ru – ru! The fallen angel is mine."

"Beta X!"

Beta X was a Net Navi who appealed as being over a meter and sixty tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and spanning through the middle of the helmet: a red pyramidal jewel aiming downwards (similar to Omega's) had been set directly above his nose.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the Alphabet letters "BX" colored golden were set within a piece of armor located over the upper edge of the ruby.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The remainder of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.

"I'm Circus Man and I'll trap ya into my cage!"

"So. You lowlife know who I am or do I have to say it aloud? Answer yes or not. Zero has spoken."

"KIIRAAKAA!"

"… "I dunno"… Whatever. I know you're Element Man and that you're going to be put down by my blade."

Zero was trying to have Element Man say something but he only replied in an odd dialect.

"KAARUUKII…"

"… "Bring it on", you lowlife say? It'll be over before you can even attack me twice."

"Heh, heh, heh!" Sigma chuckled.

"Gloom Pinch!"

"What in the…!"

Circus Man transformed into a tent with a metallic cage on the inside which dropped atop Beta X and sounds of quarrel rang out along with obvious signs of struggling.

"T-this JERK…! Fire Mode: Flame Buster!" He cursed.

"Wha~h!"

Circus Man was set on fire and Beta X managed to escape from inside of the cage with his body color now having switched from black to red yet keeping the white armor pieces as they were: he'd also drawn a white buster which had a fin-like shape forming mid-way through its length: a golden edge ran up the right edge of the buster as well.

"KUU!"

"Slow."

Element Man formed a tornado which headed for Zero but he dashed past it while cutting it two and quickly delivered three attacks to Element Man's body before kicking him in the lower jaw and bringing him into the ground: he aimed the blade at his neck.

"Is that all?" He taunted.

"KIIGAA!"

"Hmpf. Persistent opponent… Be still."

Zero drove his sword into the chest emblem and Element Man turned into stone: he then looked around.

"Tidal Wave~!"

"Demon Rings! Elec Mode!"

Dive Man formed a tidal wave and Sigma summoned some thin blue rings frizzling with electricity: they cut through the tidal wave but Dive Man "dived" into the "ground" and thus only his "turret" remained visible: Sigma gasped.

"Smart Missile!"

Two torpedoes emerged from the ground and headed for Sigma yet they crashed against a frontal octagonal shield.

"That won't save ya! Try harder!"

"Dive Bomb!"

"Heh! It tickles."

"By all the…! What a sea-monster! De a~ru!"

Dive Man had emerged, opened the chest compartment, and tossed three underwater mine explosives at Sigma which bounced off his frontal shield and left him unaffected.

"Heh, heh, heh. Come!"

"De a~ru! Smart Missile!"

"Useless, useless!"

"Sigma has it under control. Let's see Blood Shadow and that Judge Man guy…" Zero muttered.

"Judgment Press!"

"Charged shotgun… shot!"

BLAM!

"By all the…! What a criminal!"

"Have your head checked, book-man!"

Judge Man had summoned a book which was about to drop down atop Blood Shadow but he loaded his shotgun and placed both barrels on Judge Man's upper chest thus unloading the attack at zero-range: he recoiled and clutched the wound while Blood Shadow taunted him.

"Be silent! Golem Fist! Flamethrower! Bubble!"

"What!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

A book opened in front of Judge Man and drew a closed stone fist which materialized and dropped down from above thus provoking a shockwave: the symbol of a flame showed up next and Blood Shadow used his left forearm to block them: a starfish was drawn next and a bubble popped out which trapped Blood Shadow inside of it.

"Take this!"

Judge Man drew a short electrical whip and hit the bubble thus electrocuting Blood Shadow: he groaned and stepped back while Judge Man gloated.

"What bothersome foolish people! Sigaano – sama, number one foreign agent of the R – Nation is a genius!" He gloated.

"Shaddup, book-man…!" Blood Shadow growled.

"Ice Mode! Ice Spreader!"

"Fu – ru – ru! Fire Ring!"

Beta X switched to blue coloring and formed several ice lances which spiraled across a gust of super cold air as it headed for Circus Man: he drew a whip, hit the ground, and formed a literal "fire ring" from which a lion-shaped program jumped out: Beta X gasped but he drew an Elec Sword on his left forearm which he used to slice the lion in half.

"Happy Clap!"

"What?"

Two of his hands warped at the sides of Beta X and made a clap gesture which trapped Beta X between them and he groaned to break free.

"Grah! Elec Mode! Thunder Ball! Go!"

He switched to greenish armor and shot a spheroid of electricity at his opponent which hit the nose and electrocuted him: he warped into the air and dashed across it before driving the Elec Sword into his chest: Circus Man yelped and collapsed into the ground: Beta X detached and panted before sighing in relief: Circus Man was on his feet again and laughing.

"By all the… Zero! Can't you paralyze this guy?"

"Sure. Be gone, clown."

"Gua~h!"

Zero drove his sword into the wound Beta X had inflicted thus bringing a stop at the hyperactive Net Navi: both sighed in relief.

"DE A~RU!"

CRASH! THUD!

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! My Sigma Swing is the best!"

"You improvised that outta the blue…"

"Did ya say something, Brad Shad?"

"Blood Shadow, by all the…!"

"Get ready! Go! Evil Books!"

Two books having teeth on their edges formed on the ground and headed for Blood Shadow but he calmly drew a red-colored curved and indentation – filled blade on his left forearm: he sliced both of them and delivered four cuts in a row to Judge Man before smashing his jaw with the inner side of his shotgun: Blood Shadow then jumped into the air and delivered a kick to his forehead using the right boot: Judge Man collapsed into the ground and Zero loomed over him.

"Good night." He sarcastically told him.

He stuck the sword into him and paralyzed him as well: they then looked up to see Dive Man somehow walking back from another spot: Sigma had obviously thrown him there a while ago.

"Why, you…! Grabbing me by the legs and swinging me around… I won't let you get away with it, de a~ru!" He proclaimed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… It's about to rain depth charges…"

"No way, de a~ru!"

Dive Man looked upwards: Sigma warped in front of him and closed his left hand around his face to lift him from the ground despite his useless struggles: Zero paralyzed Dive Man by hitting the forehead with the sword.

"Phew. We did it, somehow." Beta X muttered.

"Hah! You lowlifes may have defeat five decoy Navis but our power is far above this! Once we unleash Proto then your nation will be doomed!"

"Sure, Sauron – chan." Sigma taunted.

"Hah? Wasn't that Sauron a man?" The voice sounded confused.

"Obviously." Blood Shadow grumbled.

"My, my. I have some bad memory from time to time. But at least I remember the details of the fu… Yikes!"

"Fu… What?" Beta X wondered.

"Of the full screen display!" Sigma laughed.

"Breathe that still air while you can because it will soon smell with the stench razing fields' smoke and ash… Crops and cattle shall be scorched, petrol pants set on fire, power plants blown up, and you lowlifes will be unable to strike back… Then the R – Nation shall have proven its power to the world! If you lowlifes are brought down… Then the Z – Nation will be scorched to the earth! All nuclear powers shall follow and we will expand! And become a new world power! And no powerless UN shall stop us! Hah, hah, hah!"

"There it goes." Zero fumed.

"Hmm… But Boss has the hunch that our culprit is making this speech up just to place the blame on the R – Nation." Blood Shadow muttered.

"Really. What a jerk." Beta X fumed.

"Hmpf! I'll bring the guy down with a swing and a punch!"

"Don't get cocky, you." Zero grumbled.

The other three grumbled while Sigma chuckled in a confident manner...

10:33 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… Here we are! Wait a minute and I will disable the alarm."

"So this is his city apartment, eh? So, Drake? Wanna play "Room Guessing" once again?"

"Hiro – kun. You never guess a single one."

"Yeah. There's no point to it."

"Like Netto – kun says…"

The four teens were standing in a hall somewhere: four wooden apartment doors were set on the north and south-facing walls, a cupboard on the left side of the left wall, a metallic frame door with an opaque glass plus a second opaque glass as its right, and two elevators doors set on the right wall: one the doors was unlocked and Mr. Denpa had gone in while a beeping sound plus a radio's music rang out from the inside.

"Good. Alert phase cancelled, gentlemen!" He joked.

"Heh, heh. Let's go into the Hall of Despair."

The other three teens rolled their eyes but followed Hiro inside of the apartment: its main floor was made of parquet while the walls were of stone and white in color: the ceiling extended all the length across it while the corridor was built to face east.

"Hum! Not bad." Hiro grinned.

"You mean "how elegant"…" Delta corrected.

"Look around!" Netto invited.

"There's a lot to see." Saito teased.

The south-facing wall at their right had two cupboard doors built into it plus a door leading into another room: the left side had a shelf-like piece of furniture with small cupboards on it, too, plus the door into a second room.

"Come into the kitchen!" Mr. Denpa called out.

Saito closed the door behind him before they stepped into the kitchen: its floor was made up of grayish tiles while the walls were made of plastic and were colored white and so was the ceiling of the room.

The left side of the room next to the entrance had a blackish/grayish marble table set atop a metallic structure on it along with four chairs around it: a small lamp hung above it.

The right side had a tall white wooden bookcase with stuff piled up on its compartments.

Running parallel to each other were a series of overhead white wooden cupboards and marble shelves below them which extended towards the west.

A tall white fridge was placed to the bookcase's left: the right-side-shelf started past the fridge and had two overhead cupboards plus another two cupboards placed below them: the center point of the shelf had the iron stoves, the extractor bell and the electrical over built into it.

The left-side-shelf had a set of four drawers built beneath the overhead compartment housing a microwave heater plus a small cupboard above it: another four cupboards doors extended across it: two sinks were placed on the middle point with three cupboard doors extending below the shelf until they reached the place where the dish-washing machine was installed at.

"Hum! Ooguro the chef would feel like home here: he would have plenty of room to come up with a new crazy recipe. Fiery _crepe_ could be one of those!" Hiro laughed.

"Jeez." Delta complained.

"We gotta go there and leave our shoes: we'll put on slippers like we do at home!" Netto signaled.

"Let's go." Saito rallied.

"Go on ahead. I'll be opening up the windows a bit to let some fresh air inside of the apartment." Mr. Denpa told them.

There was a room built on the west end of the kitchen which had a metallic frame door with a transparent glass piece and two windows at its sides: this room had a window with moveable metallic slits set on the west-facing wall allowing light inside: the room had another shelf running across the left side of it and housed a water heater, a laundry machine and a drying machine plus two shelves and one cupboard: the right side didn't have anything in particular.

"Alright! Let's start the Magic Tour!" Hiro told the others.

"Yeah, yeah." They skeptically replied.

"Over here! This is the workspace!"

This room's right wall had a set of wooden bookcases running across it containing several CDs, books and other stuff.

The left wall had a transparent glass table with a metallic structure beneath it which housed a computer and its case together with a scanner and a printer.

The table set on the south-facing wall had another computer installed atop it plus some papers and other stuff.

Located at the left of the entrance were two cupboard doors as well which were currently closed: a window was set on the east-facing wall.

"Hum! I guess these computers must hold top-secret information regarding the Valentine Tribe!" Hiro laughed.

"You made that up out of nowhere." Delta didn't find it funny.

"Valentine Tribe… Please."

"It sounds so lame!" Saito complained.

"And for a moment I thought you meant if I had researched into the myths behind St. Valentine day…" Mr. Denpa sounded amused.

"Myth-buster!"

Hiro laughed at it and the other three fumed.

"Let's head over there, gentlemen."

They followed Mr. Denpa into the living room built occupying a good deal of the corridor's left side given how it had two large and wide entrances into it.

The first things to be seen were a drawer & cupboard set placed on the west-facing wall under a large canvas depicting a cavalry charge: close to it also were a round wooden table with a light set atop it and one window looking out into the rear area of the building.

"Hum! The Round Table of Spells!"

"Be serious. You sound like you have Saito – kun's glitch in your head as well." Delta complained.

"What? Me?" He gasped.

"Yeah. I'm serious."

Hiro shut up and the other three sighed in relief: they then looked towards the east to contemplate the remainder of the living room: a large bookcase with drawers built into it occupied the wall adjacent to the corridor with a thinner and taller one standing opposite it: two yellow sofas were placed on the north-facing walls and at the eastern end of the room plus an LCD TV opposite the north-facing sofa.

The north-facing wall had a balcony built into it plus a large viewing window and a sliding balcony door.

"You stand in the balcony and wave the Japanese flag?" Hiro joked next with a broad grin.

"What? No." Mr. Denpa looked surprised, for once.

"Jeez. He's from Barcelona to begin with! He'll wave the Catalan flag, I'd guess!" Delta scolded.

"Ya sound like my _aniki_." Hiro teased.

"Well! I am! My birthday is in December! Yours is in January! We have almost a whole month of difference!"

"There goes my lawyer _aniki_…"

"When did I become a lawyer, hmmm?"

"Now, now. Calm down. Follow my footprints."

They exited the living room through the second opening and walked up the corridor to check out a room placed mid-way across the right wall of the living room.

"Ah! Lemme guess: a deposit for the Demon Waters?"

"What "Demon Waters" are you making up now?" Delta sounded about to give up.

"The ones flowing across Wily's island, maybe?" Saito suggested.

"True. Those waters are named the "Demon Waterways"… It sounds fitting for the so-called "Demon genius scientist"… But the past is the past and let us leave it like that. Go inside."

Hiro and Delta stepped inside: the room was a bathroom having the same tile combination as in the kitchen: the toilet was set facing east while the white marble sink with the mirror was opposite it: the south-facing wall had the bath tub plus shower built on it along with a window looking out into the inner yard.

"What… I always find toilets. Toilet Man has gotta be pulling the strings behind the one-sided mirror." Hiro shrugged.

"Snap outta it already." Delta complained.

"We still have another four rooms to check out!"

They exited the bathroom and walked down the corridor to enter a room at the right in front of the second living room opening: it had a window on the south-facing wall, too, a desk occupying the length of it, a bed facing west and two cupboards on the eastern wall.

"A guest room…"

"Not the Room of Magic?"

"Stop coming up with _clichéd_ magical series."

"Ah? And who is the one that's always counting the days left for the release of _Skyward Sword_, the newest entry into the _Legend of Zelda_ franchise, _aniki_~?" Hiro teased.

"You guys! Settle it later. Three rooms left!" Netto rallied.

"Hurry it up or Race Man will beat you to it." Saito challenged.

They exited the room and spotted something they'd skipped: a glass-walled cupboard with a wooden frame and having several models of photo cameras and video cameras inside.

"They belong to my father: he's a pretty good photographer yet I wouldn't say he's a total pro."

"Camera Man feels at home there."

Delta had had enough so he pulled Hiro's right ear from behind: he yelped and rubbed that area of the ear while Delta directed a serious look at him which left no room to doubts: he was annoyed.

"Follow us. And be quiet." He grumbled.

Hiro muttered something under his breath and followed them as they entered the last room on the south-facing side of the corridor: this room had a small entrance corridor and two bunks built facing opposite directions along with a small cupboard on the left side: the whole set occupied the length of the south-facing wall.

The western wall had the window built on it plus a square desk set underneath it: a ledge ran across the length of the lower bed on the western wall, too.

The eastern wall had a large bookcase with books set on it while the northern wall had four cupboard doors built on it: three drawers were placed underneath the lower bed, too.

"This is our room… I always slept on the top one while my brother slept on the bottom one…"

"Ah. Interesting." Delta remarked.

"Let's go for the last two rooms."

They lastly headed to the room opposite this one: it was another bedroom having a king-sized bed and a large canvas overhead it, facing east, depicting a fisherman's village: the north wall had the continuation of the living room's balcony along with the sliding door: the west-facing wall contained four cupboards doors.

"Let me guess, sir. Your parents' bedroom, sir?" Delta asked.

"Correct! The last room is right here."

The last room was built on to the right of the entrance and it was a second bathroom having a yellowish color to it: the arrangement of the toilet, sink and bathtub was the same as in the other bathroom.

"And we're done. We can head back."

They undid the earlier path and picked their shoes before Mr. Denpa inputted the alarm activation code, came out and locked it with the key: they stepped into the elevator and Mr. Denpa used the key to activate the "B2F" choice in the control panel: the elevator went down and pinged when it got to their destination.

"Let's pick the car and go on exploring!"

They exited into a small hall made of white walls and gray floor: there was a small closed door on the south-east corner (or, rather, in front of them) and another to their left: they headed over it and then to the right to use one of the two doors exiting into a large underground garage where the Nissan car was parked at: Mr. Denpa unlocked it and they stepped inside of it.

"Gentlemen! We still have 12 days left! Let us enjoy it and beware of jammed Makarov guns." He announced.

Hiro caught the joke and grinned while the other three frowned as if they didn't see the point of it: Mr. Denpa chuckled and started the engine while forming a broad smile…


	8. Chapter 8: Final week

**Chapter 8: Final week**

08:45 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday August the 6th…

"… Present… arms!"

"… Huh?"

"Ah?"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh…"

"Did the guy trick us again?"

"Guess so…"

"… Combat… formation!"

"Ah!"

"Huh!"

"Heh, heh, heh, heh…"

"By all the…"

"We got tricked!"

Hiro and Delta woke up by sitting up in their beds and extending their arms forward as if trying to get into the "present arms" pose only to realize they'd been tricked: they then heard Netto and Saito muttering while Mr. Denpa chuckled as he climbed down the stairs.

"Well! We had a pretty calm week. We've seen a lot of the inner county cities and villages which were interesting." Delta commented.

"Sure thing… I need some cold water in my face."

"Water Man will provide it." Saito joked as he popped his head into the room with a broad smile on his face.

"Stop making fun of Tooru – kun…" Netto grumbled.

"Ms. Moon will descend and tell us why we lack talent. Maybe the secret lies in the mirror."

"What mirror?" Netto frowned.

"The Magical Mirror, of course." He replied.

"Dunno where ya found that…" He yawned.

"Below your cushion, otouto – chan." He teased.

"Yeah, yeah. Sure thing." Netto looked skeptical.

They headed downstairs and met up with Mr. Denpa in the front yard once they readied their breakfasts.

"We go to Sitges. Pack the swimming trunks and the towels! We'll spend the day in the beach." He announced.

"Beach? Cool!" Hiro grinned.

"It's been a while since we last went to the beach!" Delta smiled.

"Any news from Japan?"

"Well… A lot of troll emails are being scattered around but they're not from Forte, Zero or Omega. It'd seem Bubble Man is attempting to play troll: he always ends up adding a "puku" word somewhere in the message which gives him away. We don't know where he's hiding after his latest "anti-matter bomb" scam."

"Anti-matter bomb? That sounds like a _Star Wars_ rip-off."

"Totally…"

"Anyway… We have confirmation that the R – Nation is behind the theft and they're placing pressure on us. But Mr. Sponsor has sent some money from the defense budget into other projects plus made a mess of the spare parts list. And he's set up backdoor Trojan programs in the satellite communication antenna array… Were he to detect an attempt to issue an "Armageddon" command to the satellites, all communications with them would be brought down simultaneously and would help us win some time while he tries to organize an inside rebellion…"

"Whoa."

"He'll alter the salary allocations so that the engineers, mechanics, technicians and soldiers get their pay reduced yet the big bosses will see it lift: social unrest will spread and they will find themselves with a big headache." Mr. Denpa smiled.

"They'd deserve that… And we could the same thing for the Z – Nation in case they try to do something?" Hiro asked.

"Obviously! It's all about creating distractions and exploiting urban legends… They're going to end up suffering a ton of headaches which they will find hard to get rid of."

"I like that strategy." Delta smiled.

"Anyway… I laughed so hard when I saw the footage Meiru sent us by email of how Dekao got busted by that King Man guy. He did win in 3 moves so he knew Guts Man was so predictable… But her writing style looked somewhat… Hostile. Don't you think so?" Netto switched topics as he laughed.

"Guess the heat made her feel ill-humored…" Saito shrugged.

"We ate exquisite _paella_ the other day…" Hiro muttered.

"You little glutton…" Delta muttered with a hint of annoyance.

"Yeah! I'm a glutton. Bite me." Hiro teased with a grin.

"I'm not in the mood."

"Anyway… We leave in 1 hour's time. Will you have enough to get everything ready? I've prepared some extra sandwiches to eat there plus a portable cooling box for drinks. You'll enjoy it, gentlemen."

"Roger!"

"Operation: Beach! Start! Last one buys ice-cream!"

"Oi! Wait, Netto – kun!"

"Hikari – kun! Not fair!"

"Oi, Netto~!"

10:50 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… Here we are! Sitges!"

"Wow!"

"Let's pick some hammocks, leave the towels and get to the water. I'll be staying here to watch for the belongings."

"Ya heard me earlier: last one buys ice-cream! Go!"

"This guy…!"

The four teens took off their t-shirts and sandals to run towards the water: Mr. Denpa calmly picked them up and placed atop each hammock while he left the two cases on the ground and took a book out of his bad titled "_Before the frost"_ which he started to read.

SPLASH!

"Catch me!"

"Not fair!"

"Heh, heh, heh… Huh? A call…"

Mr. Denpa picked up his cell phone and checked the screen: the name "Chief Lezareno" showed up on there so he patched it through.

"Chief?"

"Mr. Denpa. I got news from Mr. Sponsor… He's starting to doubt this being the work of the R – Nation after all…" A dry and dull man's voice replied.

"Why?"

"There was no trace of Proto being loaded in any of their satellites, no trace of it being in their computers and no register about any agents operating off the country… It could be a cover-up. Yet… If they were so blatantly open in admitting it… Then… Why hide the information? It'd make no sense. And it'd degrade their image into making them looking like they're striking a bluff. Don't you think so?"

"Certainly! It _is_ odd."

"So Mr. Sponsor is starting to get a hunch about it being the work of an independent one-man party yet it isn't Keitai Denwa or that mysterious man who Colonel Botos spotted on Oosaka back in June… He's somewhat unsure because that man was supposed to have died in front of his eyes so he's having a hard time believing he's alive."

"Hmmm… I see."

"He's begun searches but he's left the fail-safes in place within the R – Nation's computers just in case. He's trying to ID that Z – Nation Net Navi named "KB" which was spotted near the Science Labs Area doing something yet we don't what he did yet."

"So, insofar… The only thing which is sure is that the Z – Nation WAS the one behind the Montserrat incident. Yet the R – Nation isn't involved and this man is trying to blame them because they are a suitable candidate and had motive enough to do the theft."

"This sums it up."

"Has nothing happened in the Reverse Internet?"

"Mr. Forte approached me and he told me the only thing they'd seen was those four Navis heading for the Official Square from the "WWW Area" deep inside of the Reverse Internet… Mr. Sponsor swept it but found nothing more. Their memory files don't have any information on the location they'd been at, either. They were shut down, their memories of the location erased, and then somehow placed there."

"So the culprit is intended on leaving _zero_ traces behind. This can turn to be a long campaign." Mr. Denpa sighed.

"Unfortunately enough…"

"Alright. We will be in contact, Chief."

"Good. Later."

_Who is the culprit and what does he intend to do with Proto…?_

"… Gotcha!"

"Grah! That was unfair, Netto!"

"Bite me, Hiro."

"Those two really get along, huh?"

"Totally…"

Netto had dived under the water and pulled Hiro's legs to make him fall into it: Hiro began to chase Netto while Saito and Delta looked on as they tried to come up with a sand castle.

"One trick: pick wet sand and then let it fall atop the normal sand: you can come up with a "covering" which makes it look different." Mr. Denpa called out.

"Roger!"

"I'm riding in the sea~!"

"I'll catch ya~!"

Netto was letting the waves push him towards the shore and Hiro was trying to catch up with him only that he then dived and swam inwards: Hiro cursed and tried to keep up with him: Saito and Delta kept on working in the sand castle while humming a tune.

"Don't forget the moat!" Mr. Denpa reminded them.

"And the battlements!" Saito grinned.

"And the turrets." Delta added.

"And the dining hall!" Hiro shouted.

"And the bedroom!" Netto shouted next.

"Come on…" Both muttered with obvious skepticism.

"Heh, heh, heh…" Mr. Denpa chuckled.

Hiro and Netto kept on chasing each other and the other two hummed…

09:45 AM (Japan Time), Sunday August the 7th…

"… Alright! Thanks for your help, Ice Man!"

"Ice Man wants to be helpful, desu!"

"Yet…"

"What is it, Roll - san?"

"Eh… Nothing, nothing."

Ice Man and Roll were walking down a street in what seemed to be a city simulation built in the Cyber World: Ice Man was helping her carry some bags while Roll looked thoughtful.

_Is it me or did Meiru – chan start to behave oddly as of late? She goes out without me and buys something which she stores… An evening dress, maybe, or a night gown? Yet… Her new style… It looks somewhat… _Goth_, maybe? Or a mix of modern styles… Is she trying to break all _clichés_ and have her own style? Well… She's 14, after all. She must see life with a different point of view… Let's hope she doesn't try to do anything reckless, though…_

"Poll time: who was the King of the Upsilon Empire in the year 333 BC, ladies and gentlemen? King Water, King Fire or King Air?" A voice boomed out from the speakers set across the avenue.

"Upsilon Empire?" Some Navis wondered.

"Dunno…"

"Maybe it was a small empire?"

"Guess so…"

"Correct answer: none. There's never been such an empire. Conclusion: you got trolled." The voice amusedly told them.

"What!" Several Navis gasped.

"Poll sponsored by Bubble Man – sama and his Workshop: buy his newest invention, the "Electron Saw". Bye – bye."

"Bubble Man, the guy says! The jerk pulled a scam on me!"

"And me!"

"Me too!"

"Let's get our money back!"

"Yeah! Let's place "WANTED" posters!"

"Let's hang the guy!"

"Uh… Navis can't die from lack of air, you know…"

"See, Roll? That's how men behave. Always thinking of violence. But I know better." Meiru suddenly told her over the holographic screen while looking bored and unimpressed.

"Jeez. Meiru – chan. It's not my blame!" She protested.

"I wasn't saying it was. Calorie Ball is to blame." Meiru shrugged.

"Huh? Don't you mean Guts Man's Operator?" She frowned.

"Yeah. Fatman."

"Now you hate him or what?" Roll asked.

"Hate? No. I'm bored of its useless manly behavior."

"Well. He's a _man_ to begin with." She pointed out.

"Yeah. But he doesn't try to hide his stupidity and how he'd rather go and do imbecile things because they were shown on TV and its brain must think that what happens in TV is good." She argued back.

"No, no. Those things are forbidden from showing up in TV…"

"Well. You never know. That's why I'm in guard."

"You wouldn't have bought a hammer or a taser, right? Those aren't legal, you know." She warned Meiru.

"All's fair in self-defense. Besides… I should try to come with a system so that you can carry Battle Chips to defend yourself, too."

"If you mean the Viruses, then…"

"No. Not the Viruses. Those ugly mafia-like men out there… You have to show them who the strongest one is." Meiru corrected.

"Good. But will you tell me what that stuff you've bought in such a hush-hush manner and stuffed in your cupboard is?"

"No. That's a pro secret." She formed a smug smile.

"Pro secret…? A crowbar or what?" Roll questioned.

"I won't tell. But I'm saving it up for an occasion. Maybe if I say it's something Tooru – kun will like you'll stop pestering me?" Meiru calmly replied.

"Hmmm… Maybe. But I won't be convinced so easily until I see that with my own eyes." Roll replied.

"Roll – sama~!"

Ice Man and Roll turned to see a mob of about 10 Navis running towards them and holding out notepads plus pens: they stopped and began to agitate them into the air.

"Please sign!"

"Eh? Why?" She was taken aback.

"We've just seen that you've been appointed in the role of James Bond's junior in the upcoming _Skyfall_ film: Sigaano Nogaano has reported that on the website's twitter and it has to be the head of casting! Please sign! Please sign!" One exclaimed.

"Not this again…" Zero muttered as he showed up from a nearby side alley while sounding annoyed.

"Zero?"

"That was a troll by Bubble Man's accomplice!" He told the mob in a scolding tone of voice.

"E~H?"

"Bubble Man's to blame."

"WHY, YOU…! BOTHERSOME BUBBLE MAN!"

The mob ran off so the three of them sighed in relief: Meiru merely lifted her left eyebrow and didn't look surprised.

"Yeah. And Bond will have no qualms about bringing her with him to his bed. It's a clearly manly series of films. Everything is manly. Hence why male Net Navis' names are always "something Man"…" She muttered in an icy tone of voice.

"What's with her?" Zero asked Roll in a whisper.

"She's turning serious." Roll summarized.

"Hum. Then I better get away before she starts to snap at me. But even though I speak and behave like a man…Given how I formed from Viruses then I should be gender-less." Zero muttered.

"See you around."

"Good luck."

"Good luck, desu!"

Zero walked away while Roll and Ice Man headed for the Sakurai home's firewall: Roll interacted with the control panel and opened an entrance which they used to come inside: they then entered the PC and they left the bags on the ground while sighing in relief.

"Well, Ice Man! Be careful on your way back! And thanks for your help, too!" She told him.

"Desu! Good-bye, desu!"

Ice Man headed out while Roll put the clothes on a digital cupboard before sitting down on an armchair and began to think.

_Meiru – chan is keeping secrets from me. There were no secrets before. Maybe she thinks I'll tell her parents? I still don't get why she needs to hide stuff… What is she up to, then?_

09:37 PM (Barcelona Time), Monday August the 8th…

"… RRRRRRATION MY RRRRUM!" A voice commanded.

"Huh!"

"The pirates!"

Hiro and Delta woke up and Delta gasped upon realizing that Hiro had slept while hugging him: he pushed him apart and quickly stood up to mark some distance: Hiro groaned in disappointment.

"Come on, Delta… I thought you didn't mind this in the past."

"Funny. But none of us can remember anything about that tragic past back in January, 2010. And that was different. We've changed. Let's be decent boys here. We don't want to stain everything. If you want to… Then we'll speak about it when we get back to Japan." Delta seriously told him.

"QUE LE GRRRRRAND CRRRRIC ME CRRRROQUE!"

"The French army!"

"Run for it!"

Netto and Saito woke up too and jumped off their beds only to see Mr. Denpa climbing down the stairs and chuckling: Saito yawned and pulled the blinder upwards while opening the side window and allowing some fresh air inside: both headed to the bathroom and washed their faces with cold water sourcing from the faucet.

"Well… We visited the city of Girona yesterday which wasn't bad. I wonder where we'll go today…" Netto commented.

"Let's go downstairs and we'll know."

Both headed downstairs and met up with Hiro and Delta before coming into the kitchen and preparing their breakfast: the four of them walked out into the front yard and met with Mr. Denpa.

"Good morning! Today's destination is… Empúries! It's an interesting city given its Iberian, Greek and Roman heritage!"

"Wow."

"The Greeks set up one of their multiple colonies there and it was an important trade point: later the Romans also realized the importance of that post and built their small colony next to the Greek one. So the three civilizations lived there on the same age." He briefed them.

"Cool. It sounds like an interesting place to go to!" Hiro grinned.

"Today is Tuesday, right? Well then… I'm saving up something special for Thursday, our last day here. Tomorrow we'll cross the frontier and go explore the Roselló, a region of France which once was part of Catalonia in the past ages…" He told them the plan.

"I guess that the "something special" will be intriguing." Delta smiled and looked amused.

"Of course. Leave it to Denpa – san." Netto grinned.

"He always has bright ideas!"

"By the way, what do we know about the R – Nation?" Hiro asked.

"Ah? My, my! I forgot to tell you gentlemen… Chief Lezareno called me on Sunday to tell me about how Mr. Sponsor now believed that the R – Nation is a red herring. And that the one behind this is a man he knew but apparently died in front of Mr. Sponsor's eyes. But all information suggests that: the R – Nation is a red herring, a distraction, the scapegoats…" He explained.

"By all the… Then the thief acts by his own agenda?" Netto gasped.

"If it really is the man Mr. Sponsor believes it to be…"

"Or someone who knew him?" Saito suggested.

"I didn't think of that. It could be a copycat who found out about his knowledge or something like that…" Mr. Denpa muttered.

"Or a relative, even. A distant cousin, even…"Delta added.

"Intriguing. I'll speak it with him at once."

Mr. Denpa entered the house and picked the black wireless phone: he dialed a number and waited for the connection to be made: the phone was picked up.

"The crepe was cold."

"Icy, even. They should teach that cook how to make decent crepes by having him course a year at _Cordon Blue_…"

"Passwords confirmed… What's up, Mr. Denpa?"

"We were having an interesting _debacle_ in here, Mr. Sponsor… Could the thief actually be a friend or a relative of the man who died?"

"Huh? I said the guy was a man? Jeez. That's what happens when I try to stay awake with coffee and not sleep enough: I mix up ideas from nowhere at all!" Vadous cursed aloud.

"Do excuse me?"

"He's not a "man" in the sense of being a "human"… The suspect I had in mind was a solo Net Navi who collaborated with me for a while until April 2009! He showed up out of the blue in March and we had a little skirmish which ended up with a strange phenomenon sucking him in and he vanished from sight. That's why I thought he was gone!" Vadous admitted with a sigh.

"Whoa!"

"That's what happens when I ignore Lartes' advice… I didn't bother to ring him up given how he has duties to attend to in Gulf Hospital near Beach Street…" He grumbled.

"So… That Net Navi… What was his name?"

"… Well… He had a title and now I see why he would leave those book extracts on the Net Prison… "The Nomad Emissary"…"

"So the extract about _nomadic_ people was hinting at him?"

"Pretty much… He was fond of provoking an adversary into battle with him, after all."

"I see. So what should we do?" Mr. Denpa asked.

"Don't worry. I'm sure the whole thing is aimed at me if the guy turns out to be that "Nomad Emissary" guy… He'll surely want to start up a cold war between both of us." Vadous replied.

"I see. Well then, please don't overwork yourself, sir."

"I know…"

"Yo~! _Shachou_~! Did ya hear the news? Brad Shad is going out with Lucy~ to the cinema tonight!" Omega exclaimed over the line.

"By all the… Stop making up pairings like in the forums and think that we could be facing "Nomad" again…"

"So then… Tabby – chan came back for more? I'll give him more! More heat, more cold, more dryness and more rock 'em all sponsored by Queen! Nyah, hah, hah, hah!" Omega laughed.

"You're impossible."

"As impossible as Magnus Freddy~?" Omega asked.

"Who's that?" Vadous questioned.

"The Doc's evil cousin!"

"By all the… Lartes doesn't have cousins! Now move your legs and do something useful!"

"Yessir! I'll turn Internet City into Cyber Clock Town! Including Ms. Moon and the countdown! Mwa, hah, hah, hah!"

"Huh? I didn't get any of that!" Vadous sounded puzzled.

"He means he'll recreate _Mujura's Mask_… A city which is doomed to be destroyed in 72 hours by the Moon slowly dropping upon it unless the hero can summon the 4 Giants and stop it…" Delta replied.

"WHAT? Omega~!"

"Catch me, _shachou_~!"

11:11 AM (Burma Time), Wednesday August the 9th…

"… So! General Sentou. What happened to that "project" which you claimed to be pursuing after the Montserrat fiasco?"

"I have confirmed that it exists, Excellency. I will wait until the summer vacation ends and everyone starts working again to acquire it and then bring it here…"

General Sentou looked somewhat nervous when speaking with his interlocutor using the phone: the voice on the other end sounded skeptical at first and cold.

"So you admit it is in Japan."

"Correct, Excellency! Hidden deep below the Science Labs… I will have "KB" scout it out so that we can draw a plan as to how to get inside of THE room… And retrieve "that"…"

"And how much time would it be needed for the project to become active, then?"

"Less than 24 hours, Excellency. We just need to program it with loyalty to the Z – Nation and update its data… Then it will automatically become an almost unstoppable tool to ensure our control over the Internet, Excellency! I have consulted the programmers and we have drawn simulations already based on existing data and reports." General Sentou quickly listed.

"Good. I like that better. Remember. This is your last chance. And an internal investigation is underway. Were something to emerge even if it was 15 years ago then I shall not doubt on using it as a motive to have you processed." The man warned.

"I am aware of it, oh Great Excellency!"

"You have been warned."

The line was cut in an abrupt manner and General Sentou rubbed his hands in excitement while forming a smug smile: he even chuckled under his breath.

12:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… But I'm glad ya dropped by! You must've been felt bored. And ya brought your boyfriend along, eh, Meiru – chan?"

"Yeah. At least he is conscious and he never questions or protests. That's how it should be like. Don't you think so, Tooru – kun?"

"_Hai_~… Sakurai – san…"

Ayanokouji Yaito was speaking with Meiru as they sunbathed in hammocks next to her manor's swimming pool: Hikawa Tooru was laying rightmost hammock.

Today he sported navy blue swimming trunks and he looked somewhat resigned.

"Good." Meiru grinned.

She was sporting a black bikini and a straw hat plus sunglasses: Yaito, on the other hand, had a red swimsuit on and repeated the straw hat plus sunglasses combo: their PETs had been left on a nearby table so Glyde, Roll and Ice Man were engrossed into a conversation.

"Fatman tried to plead to me but I kicked 'im outta here." Yaito told Meiru with a smug smile.

"Serves the guy right, totally."

"Will ya tell me how ya make progress on the ideas I suggested? Don't go too far, though, or there might be legal repercussions…"

"Don't worry. I know when to hold back. He'll be my choice and maybe then I'll find someone else… I have someone on mind…"

"Ah… That guy who joined our class during this year, Tomono Noa – kun, ya mean? What was his Navi's name again?"

"Rafael, Yaito – sama." Glyde reported.

"Gotta be Italian!" She laughed at her joke.

"Sure thing…"

"I'm not sure what you two are talking about, Meiru – chan... But the word "legal repercussions" has me worried. I hope you're not about to get into a mess." Roll told her.

"Don't worry. Tooru – kun is willing to experience something new, aren't you, Tooru – kun?"

"_Hai_~… Sakurai – san…" He drily replied in a resigned tone of voice.

"Alright. But if I catch wind that what you do is turning illegal then I'll be obliged to tell your parents, Meiru – chan."

"Sure thing." She didn't seem to mind it.

"What's going to happen, desu?" Ice Man asked.

"I'm not sure, either." Roll admitted.

"Will something bad happen, desu?"

"No, I don't think so." She replied.

"You won't notice anything. It'll happen in a breeze." Meiru grinned at them and shrugged.

"Let's hope so!" Roll sounded slightly skeptical.

"Don't be so skeptical."

"Then tell me what you're gonna do."

"Nah. I hate spoilers."

"Jeez. Alright, have it your way."

"Fair enough."

"Tee, heh, heh, heh." Yaito giggled.

"I should write my will…" Hikawa grimly muttered.

"Come on! Be a boy!" Meiru giggled.

Both girls giggled, Hikawa sighed in defeat, Roll looked skeptical and the other two Navis looked on…

08:35 AM (Barcelona Time), Thursday August the 10th…

"… _Ill y a une machine infernale dans la cale!" _

"There's a bomb inside of the cargo bay? Run for it!"

"Wait for me!"

Both Hiro and Delta jumped out their beds in a rush only to realize what had happened.

"_Moule à gaufres!" _

"Who's the sequel of the smallpox?"

"Wait for us!"

Netto and Saito jumped out of their beds to confront whoever had called them "sequels of the smallpox" but found no-one.

"He used French again… Something tells me he's got a diploma in French…" Netto yawned.

"Guess so…" He shrugged.

They walked downstairs and met up with Hiro and Delta who were putting the slippers on.

"What surprises me is how he can wake up so soon…" Hiro commented.

"He must be used to it…" Delta ventured.

"So! Our last day here. Tomorrow we pick the return plane… But we can't complain, can we? It's been a fun vacation." Netto commented.

"Sure thing! And Dekao will get a fit of jealousy again."

"He's gotta be desperate to try to overcome Tooru – kun and Ice Man yet they'll make Gorilla Man dance across the labyrinth of iced floors… Heh, heh, heh." Saito joked.

"Good joke!"

"Thanks. Let's head down!"

They prepared their breakfast and headed for the front yard to meet up with Mr. Denpa who smiled at them.

"I announced I had reserved something special for today… We'll go to the Tibidabo Amusement Park!" Mr. Denpa announced.

"Wow!" Everyone let out a whistle of admiration.

"Put asides those worries and get suited! We're going to spend the day in there!" Mr. Denpa told them.

"Yippe~!" Everyone exclaimed.

"An amusement park! Cool!" Hiro grinned.

"What better way to spend the last day?" Delta smiled.

"Heh, heh, heh. Amusement Man showed up through the backdoor in a sneaky manner…" Saito giggled.

"Yeah, yeah. I know that tune of yours, Saito – niisan."

"Maybe ya wanna play the "Time Song" with the "Time Ocarina" and open up the "Time Door" in the "Time Temple"?" Saito grinned.

"Too many "times"…" Netto grumbled.

"The _Times_ in King Land counts, too?" Mr. Denpa joked.

"That's a newspaper?" Netto looked surprised.

"A pretty popular one, too." He added.

"Great."

"Time is of essence!" Saito told him.

"I knew that."

"And, over time…" Hiro grinned at Delta.

"Jeez. Don't pressure me, Hiro – kun!"

Mr. Denpa looked on and formed a smile while the group of four kept on chatting…

10:55 AM (Barcelona Time)…

"… Here we are!"

"Wow!"

The group entered the amusement park's grounds and began to look at the multiple attractions plus the wide and clean view of the Barcelona skyline including the Mediterranean Sea.

"Our first stop should be… _there_."

Mr. Denpa signaled a retro-style plane which hung from a metal arm which rotated it 360º and offered breath-taking views.

"Whoa! That's gotta be one of the most original things I've ever seen in an amusement park." Netto grinned.

"Let's climb inside, gentlemen!"

The group joined the queue and was able to climb into the few seats available inside after a while: they looked out through the windows and began to signal some of the landmarks.

"There's the _Sagrada Família_!" Hiro told them as he signaled it.

"I can see the Sail Hotel!" Delta exclaimed.

"The Agbar Tower is also visible! Do you remember how we went to see it at night?" Netto brought up.

"It was beautiful!" Saito admitted.

"Now you know that you will return with a nice memory of Barcelona: and you will get ready to tackle this 2nd grade of middle school!"

"Yeah! That of Montserrat was nothing: this vacation has been totally cool from the very start!" Hiro grinned.

"I can't wait to tell everyone!" Delta grinned.

They began to wave at the skyline with smiles on their faces.

"Farewell, Barcelona!"


	9. Chapter 9: Back home

**Chapter 9: Back home**

10:04 AM (Paris Time), Friday August the 11th…

"… Fua~h… Well… Here we are: Paris Orly and waiting to start boarding the JAL flight to Japan which takes off at 11 AM and takes 12 hours to get to Japan… 11 PM Europe time, so… We'd land there around 6 AM. And if we count the time to go through passport control and luggage retrieving then… I guess we'll be out in the arrivals hall by 8 AM…"

"Good Math, otouto – chan!"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't feel like discussing today."

"Well! It's over. But it was fun. Why did ya choose to travel back inside of the PET, though, Delta?"

"To avoid problems with my passport… And to not split the group and have to pick more seats, too… I'll come out when we get home. Deal, Hiro – kun?"

"Deal."

"Gentlemen. We can begin boarding."

The three teens (Delta having gone back inside of his PET) and Mr. Denpa were sitting in the waiting chairs next to a boarding gate.

"But yesterday was fun… Crazy tea-cups, carrousel, Ferris wheel, mirror-house, roller-coaster, the plane… We ended up beaten! But that was a cool amusement park!" Hiro exclaimed as if to cheer them up.

They'd begun to take their places at the queue and began to march towards the insides of the gargantuan plane: they picked their seats and sat down in the same order as in the going trip.

"So… As far as I know, Netto, ya firstly went to Ameroupe around July, 2009… It had something to do with "Gospel", right? And there was some trouble on the return trip…" Hiro brought up.

"Yeah! The meeting was to discuss the extent of the threat "Gospel" posed and what they sought. But we ran into trouble."

"There was a "Gospel" insider." Saito let out.

"Ijuuin was there, too?"

"Yeah. He was still the "get outta my way you spotlight thief" type of guy, truth to be told. He even went and accused _me_ of being the "Gospel" insider when I found a person who'd been electrocuted by a trap in the castle's basements and he happened to walk in. The insider had played the victim and thus we all danced to their tune given how Enzan turned paranoid right there because I was checking on that person, Raoul – san, Operator of Thunder Man…" Netto exposed.

"We had to defeat Blues and he still didn't want to admit he was wrong until Raoul – san corrected him and revealed who the insider was: Princess Pride of Cream Land with her Navi Knight Man…"

"Cream Land? I'd heard of that kingdom, true."

"Well. She ended up being a victim to technological advancement and "Gospel" took profit of that."

"So… You actually met Forte several months after the battle at Kotobuki Town?" Delta asked.

"Correct. When Specter Man blew up that road crossing over the Reverse Internet and Rock Man fell there… Forte happened to have been wandering around there after the beating up he got from Serenade so he decided to try to speak instead of fighting him. And thus he began to think things again from the start regarding what to do with his life."

"Specter Man… I barely remember the guy. I only saw a photo of him which the other guys showed me but he's still serving sentence on the Net Prison given "public property damage/sabotage/destruction"… But I guess he's not gonna be there forever, right?" Delta asked.

"Hmmm… It's hard to say. He could've been labeled a "terrorist" as well along with Darkloid Swallow Man, who stole the Copy Roid schematics from the Science Labs after forcibly breaking into there. It depends on what the prosecutor believes given the evidence and what the penal code says…" Mr. Denpa told him.

"I see. But maybe I could get to meet him? I mean, I _am_ a Net Savior so maybe by asking Commissioner Kifune…"

"It could work. I don't think he'd saw any trouble to it given your excellent performance during this last year."

"Good. Maybe I can get a better idea of him."

"Ladies and gentlemen… Please fasten your seatbelts. We're about to take off." The speakers requested.

Everyone quickly fastened their seatbelts and the cabin door was sealed up: the plane began to taxi and driven to the runway.

"What nerves! I know this is the fourth take-off I've experienced in this summer yet I can't stop getting nervous!" Hiro muttered.

"Don't be surprised! It's totally normal." Mr. Denpa smiled.

"O. K.! To Japan we go!"

"Via the express lane!" Saito laughed.

"Or via a warp-tunnel?" Delta laughed next.

"Not bad." Mr. Denpa complimented.

"Thanks!"

"Why do those two get the compliments?" Netto muttered with a hint of annoyance.

"And they say I have lame humor, too." Hiro grumbled.

"Now, now. Relax and let's enjoy our flight, shall we?"

"_Hai_~!"

The plane soon stabilized and the group had a look at the Paris landscape: they focused on the spear of the Eiffel Tower and grinned.

"Operation: Vacation! Outcome: Success!" Hiro announced.

"HORRAY~!"

22:45 PM (Burma Time)…

"… General. We have executed the 1st stage. We have secured an insider as per your orders, sir. We carried out the instructions just like you'd passed them down, sir."

"Good job."

"What do we do now, sir?"

"First thing: you made sure not to break the guy's bones or inflict any permanent damage marks, right?"

"Correct, sir."

"Are you sure?"

"We are, sir!"

General Sentou was speaking with someone via his cell phone and looked serious as he checked with the interlocutor.

"Fair enough. Give the guy the number. Tell the guy what info I want and when to send it. Let the guy know how high the stakes are in here. We are serious. We will find out any attempts to fool us. And if we do… Then that guy and anyone linked to it will be… _deleted_." He instructed.

"Roger, General, sir!"

"Pull out once you finish. Have the guy tossed into the place he belongs to as well. Gotcha?"

"Roger, General, sir!"

"And don't be rough, either, or else the whole strategy will fall apart before it can begin. No visible marks. No outside signs which may be questioned. Nothing. Understood?" He emphasized.

"By your orders, sir!"

"Good. This operation never happened."

"Roger."

General Sentou ended the phone call and formed a smug smile before his cell phone rang and he checked the number.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Uncle Cabbage?" Someone asked back.

"Wrong number." He immediately replied.

"General Alister Sentou?" The man asked next.

"That's me." He admitted.

"Sigaano Nogaano." The man introduced himself.

"The R – Nation agent!" He gasped.

"That's me."

"Whaddya want? To brag?" He questioned.

"To brag? Maybe."

"That ain't an answer!" He grumbled.

"Maybe the _daimaou_ Ganondorf holds the answer?"

"Great Demon King Ganondorf? Who the heck is that?"

"Everyone's worst nightmare, you see, Mr. Smith."

"Huh? Why are ya calling me "Mr. Smith"?"

"Dunno. I felt like it." Sigaano replied.

"You're weird-behaved for being an R – Nation agent!"

"I'm pretty loose."

"So that's why, huh? What are ya gonna do with that "Proto" thing, sell it to Wily?" He questioned.

"Sell it to Dr. Wily? I was under the impression he's consuming himself in jail." Sigaano sounded slightly surprised.

"Well, yeah. I was being ironic, you know."

"I never understood irony too well. Maybe I should have asked _aibou_ for some practical examples…" The man muttered as if he'd forgotten he was speaking with someone else.

"That sounded suspicious!" General Sentou challenged.

"And what if?" Sigaano calmly replied.

"Bothersome meddling jerk!" General Sentou cursed.

"My. As expected of a military man… I'd rather say Commander Barrel of the Ameroupe Network Force is better-mannered even though he was raised by Dr. Wily." Sigaano told him.

"What the…? Wily raised THE Commander Barrel?"

"Colonel EXE was designed by him, too."

"So he's Wily's ace-in-the-hole?" General Sentou guessed.

"Unfortunately, no. He became independent some years ago and I doubt he wants to have anything else to do with someone who cut off a city's water supply, abducted a child, trapped people in an underground restaurant with limited oxygen, organized car crashes, hijacked a bus, tried to have it be blown up, hijacked sections of the Network, abducted some ex-members and, finally, tried to hijack one of our military satellites using the Dream Virus." Sigaano calmly listed.

"By all the… You sound like a prosecutor!"

"Prosecutor? Ah. True, true. Well. I'd rather say I'm somewhat encyclopedic because I like to list facts as they are without being stained by personal opinions."

"Heh! Then someone will hire ya to hand-copy the _Encyclopedia Britannica _while they dig a tunnel into a bank's vault!"

"_The Adventure of the Red-Headed League… _I do remember that one because it was a rather simplistic yet well-executed ploy using every human's weakness: money. Yet I have no need for it and I don't see why people get obsessed over it…"

"Huh? Ya sound weirder with each passing moment. Are ya sure ya are an R – Nation agent?"

"Of course. I just don't get obsessed with money."

"How couldn't you? Money IS EVERYTHING! How would ya eat, drink and buy things otherwise?"

"… Heh, heh, heh. Alright. No more masks. I am the "Nomad Emissary" and I am a fully Independent Model Net Navi! I work on my own agenda, see. And I don't need money because as a Navi I can use raw data to create anything for free!" He chuckled.

"W-what in the bloody…?" General Sentou gasped.

"Surprised, General? I won't get in your way, though. I like to be a spectator of the grand drama. Let it unfold. Let there be blood, tears, hatred, rage, anger, fury, revenge, despair, sadness, guilt, shock, grudged and all the ingredients which, combined, define a good drama. I shall be the reviewer." Sigaano announced in a slightly dramatic tone of voice and chuckling.

"Y-you jerk…! Don't screw around!" General Sentou cursed.

"My, my. Maybe you'd think twice if you knew that not even your ever-so-precious "KB" could damage me in battle?" He teased.

"Impossible!"

"No, not impossible at all. Nothing is impossible. That is, except for the existence of "magic"… But given how that doesn't obey natural physic laws then I shove it aside to fully focus on what's important and necessary… Should I treat you to a Vesper Cocktail?" He joked.

"Huh? Isn't that James Bond's self-invented cocktail?"

"True. So?"

"Get lost and don't get in MY way!" General Sentou growled.

"My, my. If your boss heard that then you could say bye-bye to your petty schemes." He sounded amused by now.

"You lowlife… Are you blackmailing me?"

"Blackmailing you, General? No. I'm picturing a "what-if" scenario, after all! They amuse me. Go and dance to the tune of Aladin's flute while chanting "Open, Sesame" to the vault door you wish to unlock. Maybe that's the password, even." Sigaano laughed.

"Ridiculous!" General Sentou cursed.

"Whether it is something ridiculous or not isn't my competency but yours, General." Sigaano sounded like he was shrugging.

"Once I find out who you are and where you are…!"

"You'll send "KB" after me yet I insist. I could defeat him with just one attack along with anything else on a 500-meter radius around him which is standing." Sigaano calmly reminded him.

"What the hell are ya?" General Sentou demanded.

"I told you: a totally Independent Model Net Navi obeying no organization and no nation. Forte and I are similar in that case."

"Why, you…!"

"Think about my words, General. I will be watching. Yet… If you were to stage something which has an evident connection to the "Secret Empire" or try to get rid of that "insider" then I will stop you. Let this be a fair warning from a gentleman. Draw your sword and sharpen it for the day in which you will have to fight for your life. Or should I say your Makarov pistol instead? Heh, heh, heh… Our beloved monsters… Make sure to enjoy the thrill… While you can…" He trailed off in obvious amusement while chuckling.

"W-wait!"

The line went dead and General Sentou growled something as he violently tossed the cell phone atop the table and began to pace around it while cursing under his breath.

_NOTHING will stop ME!_

08:04 AM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 12th…

"… Yo~!"

"Over here~!"

"Hmpf. So you came back…"

"Come on, Meiru – chan… Don't put that face."

"Welcome back!"

"Whoa! Papa! Mama! Everyone!"

"Heh! The club's gathered, eh, Delta?"

"So it'd seem."

The group of four travelers stepped into the arrivals hall: they were greeted by Dekao, Hikawa, Meiru, Yaito, Haruka and Yuuichirou: Meiru had put on her smug smile face which Yaito seemed to disapprove of for once, even.

"How was the experience like?" Yuuichirou asked.

"Splendid!"

"Fun."

"That's the good part!"

"So! Hiro – kun. What are you up this time around? Are you going to do something dishonest?" Meiru questioned him.

"Huh? What, is there something written on my face?" Hiro frowned and signaled his nose with the right middle finger.

"No. But I can guess."

"Now, now. Sakurai – san… Hiro – kun is not to blame for anything as far as I know." Mr. Denpa interjected.

"I was testing him." She shrugged.

"No good." Hikawa grimly muttered.

"So, Delta – kun?" Roll asked him.

"It was cool. I'll tell you a little secret later on. But don't expect it to be any big deal, though." He grinned.

"I'm gonna become Akihara Town's champion!" Dekao gloated.

"Oh. Come on." Yaito looked annoyed.

They didn't spot Sigaano sitting nearby while sporting a hat and a trench coat plus shoes and a black suit with a black tie: he had a suitcase on the ground next to his right leg and his face was hidden behind the daily newspapers: he was smiling.

_Welcome! Hikari Brothers, Akashi and Delta EXE… I will not interfere in your daily activities yet… I will be watching. And just that you know: the Z – Nation is about to pull their little petty scheme into motion but knowing _aibou_ he'll take care of foiling them… But you never know: I might pull some strings to make things interesting. Heh, heh, heh…_

"… O. K.! Let that new course come: I'll tackle it!" Netto grinned.

"Tackle Man's Return." Saito joked.

"Not bad." Hiro grinned.

"Jeez." Delta protested.

"It's good to see you filled with such energy!" Haruka giggled.

"True. Welcome back." Yuuichirou placed both hands atop their shoulders and smiled at the twins.

Hiro sighed and looked elsewhere while Delta looked gloomy for a moment but Mr. Denpa whispered something to them and they suddenly cheered up.

"Well then, everyone! Let's get ready: we'll soon become 2nd grade students!" Netto and Saito rallied.

Everyone laughed while Sigaano chuckled under his breath…

**THE END**


End file.
